Destiny Omnibus: should I pull the trigger?

[David Mack]

David, I saw some convention footage on Youtube recently in which Nicole de Boer says that you presented her with a copy of the story. Did she ever get back to you with any feedback?

That was last year (May 2011), at FedCon XX in Düsseldorf. She was very excited to receive the books, as she was looking forward to showing off her character as a captain to her daughter. I never heard back from Nicole, nor did I really expect to. I can only hope that if she ever read them that she enjoyed them. If I ever run into her again, I'll ask.

 

[DonIago]

I have to admit that on the one hand I realize the differences are minor enough that I might not even notice them...while on the other hand I'm -very- curious about them. It doesn't help that I'm blessed-cursed with the Editor's Gene...I love to see how stuff evolves over time. But I'd feel kind of like a rube if I bought the omnibus only to feel like I'd just double-dipped, even if the series is awesome.

 

[Sho]

FWIW, I promised in the past that if the omnibus (or the new versions individually) ever gets released in ebook form, I'll purchase both and take a diffing algorithm to them to generate the list of changes between them and post them here.

 

[DonIago]

I recalled that being said, just not the specific circumstances.

 

[Brikar99]

My copy of this omnibus came in the mail today. It's much larger than I imagined! Almost daunting, in fact...

 

[David Mack]

^ Imagine how I felt while writing it...

 

[DonIago]

My copy of this omnibus came in the mail today. It's much larger than I imagined! Almost daunting, in fact...

Like a Borg cube?

 

[Brikar99]

My copy of this omnibus came in the mail today. It's much larger than I imagined! Almost daunting, in fact...

Like a Borg cube?

Now that would've been an interesting cover design...

 

[JudgeDredd]

I've made it to almost the middle (pg. 368) and it's really good stuff. One thing I kind of wish had happened by this point in the post-NEM timeline is the return of Data. His death was so pointless that there's no need to keep him dead. I'd like to see him back in the novels and not just the STO timeline, though I do like how he was brought back and that he got command of the Enterprise.

One last thought before I return to reading: I read in another thread about the pronunciation of "Caeliar," and while some mistakenly assumed a Latin-sounding pronunciation would be "See-lee-ar," ecclesiastical Latin renders "cae" "chay." So in my mind, I've been reading "Chay-lee-ar." Not that it matters, really...how many times did names get mispronounced on TNG, sometimes in the same scene by the same actor? No big deal.

That said, can someone throw me a bone with Ra-Havreii? My Latin training (three semesters of ecclesiastical in seminary) leads me to read it as "Rah-Hov-ray-ee-ee." Is that anywhere near the intended pronunciation?

Mr. Mack, thanks for this excellent tale! This is a perfect companion piece to my year-long re-watching of TNG. I've plotted my viewing to take me through all of 2012, so I'll be ending the year-long journey on 12/31/12 with "Nemesis."

It's been a great 25th anniversary celebration so far!

 

[Sci]

One last thought before I return to reading: I read in another thread about the pronunciation of "Caeliar," and while some mistakenly assumed a Latin-sounding pronunciation would be "See-lee-ar," ecclesiastical Latin renders "cae" "chay." So in my mind, I've been reading "Chay-lee-ar." Not that it matters, really...how many times did names get mispronounced on TNG, sometimes in the same scene by the same actor? No big deal.

IIRC, in an interview David Mack did for The Chronic Rift Podcast, he pronounced it "Kay-lee-ar."

 

[Christopher]

That said, can someone throw me a bone with Ra-Havreii? My Latin training (three semesters of ecclesiastical in seminary) leads me to read it as "Rah-Hov-ray-ee-ee." Is that anywhere near the intended pronunciation?

I don't know what the original intent was, but that sounds pretty close to how I think of it, "Rah-hah-vray."

 

[DonIago]

In my head, which doesn't mean much of anything, it would be "Kay-lee-ar" and "Ra-Ha-Vray".

 

[JD]

I've always said it Ra-Ha-Vry (with the vry pronounced like sky).

 

[jla1987]

I loved the three separate books the first time around, so I've decided to pick up the Omnibus.

 

[David Mack]

^ Bless you.

 

[Iamnotspock]

In my head, which doesn't mean much of anything, it would be "Kay-lee-ar" and "Ra-Ha-Vray".

Me too. I did mispronounce Aventine as "A-VEN-teen" rather than "AV-en-TYNE" when I first read it though.

 

[Sho]

In the little collaborative fanfic I participate in we ended up rechristening a USS Aventine the USS Ripa when Treklit came up with its Aventine - after the rione of Rome where Aventine hill is located ... </idle thought>

 

[ryan123450]

I picked this up for my brother as an intro into Treklit. I typed up a page telling the events leading up to Destiny from the end of the series and movies. Hopefully this will get him into reading either more of the Litverse, either the books before Destiny or the Typhon Pact era stuff.

 

[Brikar99]

This is the first Trek book I've read in about a decade and I can't put it down. Damn you, David Mack... *shaking my fist at the sky*

 

[MikeS]

I have just finished reading this trilogy and enjoyed it very much, even if I did figure out the origin of the Borg about halfway through book II. It's nice to have these epic scoped books in Trek lit, alot of which are just "pulp fiction", it's nice to have to work at reading for a change.

Spoiler: Destiny

Nice to have a Scouse character too! Just wished he'd been the first ever Borg... That would have been something for me to shout about!

The death scenes in the second book were written so well. My father died of cancer whilst I was reading this and I was crying reading those. They were so accurately and emotionally written. Well done Mr Mack.

Also, whilst you are on the board, may I ask why you decided to hint at the start of a relationship for LaForge in book II and leave it unresolved? Was that purposeful (a hint to his string of previous failures)?