DS9 Relaunch lit

[Thrawn]

Thanks Thrawn. I'm going to be judicious about what I pick up. I have a lot of what you had on your lists. However, I don't plan on reading Titan or Voyager with any regularity. My decision may just be based on what the back cover blurb.

As far as Titan goes, that makes sense, because the Titan novels are all standalones. Titan appears in Destiny, but those books will certainly introduce / re-introduce the character arcs you'll need within that story.

Voyager, though... definitely feel free to skip the first four, but Full Circle onward is a pretty entwined narrative, and it's also remarkably good. Most everyone on here will tell you how surprisingly outstanding Full Circle and Unworthy were; pretty much the clear highlights of 2009's schedule, even for people that never liked the VOY show at all. I'd recommend not jumping in and out of that one.

 

[Janos]

A Time To Kill
A Time To Heal
A Time For War/A Time For Peace - the last 3 books of a 9 book series setting up Nemesis; the first 6 are not really important.

Thx Thrawn for all your assistance (as noted in another post, I have a lot of what's on the list; certainly the DS9 stuff, the stuff that seemed interesting like the Battle of Betazed), anything KRAD or PAD did.

BTW, did any of the "A Time To..." books focus on DS9 or were they pretty much TNG? The only one I have is KRAD's A Time For War/A Time For Peace.

 

[Thrawn]

It's all TNG. The immediately prior two, Kill & Heal, are pretty awesome and very much worth the read. The six before that are less good.

(Basically, you should add David Mack to your list with PAD and KRAD. Dude is phenomenal.)

 

[JD]

^Yeah, if you pick up a book by David Mack it is gaurenteed to be at least good, if not totally amazing. There isn't a single David Mack story that I haven't at least found enjoyable.

Just out of curiosity, Janos, how much of the Mirror Universe stuff have you read?

 

[Janos]

^Yeah, if you pick up a book by David Mack it is gaurenteed to be at least good, if not totally amazing. There isn't a single David Mack story that I haven't at least found enjoyable.

Just out of curiosity, Janos, how much of the Mirror Universe stuff have you read?

I read the 3 anthologies and the 2 Dark Passions books. I also read the Shatnerverse MU trilogy, but I imagine that doesn't count.

I do have the DS9 relaunch MU books as well as Sorrows of Empire (but haven't read them yet). I also plan to pick up David Mack's next MU book in 2012.

 

[JD]

Cool, I was gonna tell you about those books, but since you already read them there is no need. What did you think of Dark Passions? Most of what I've heard about them has been pretty negative.

 

[Janos]

Cool, I was gonna tell you about those books, but since you already read them there is no need. What did you think of Dark Passions? Most of what I've heard about them has been pretty negative.

It has been a while since I read the DP books, but I recall they were "fun" reads.

 

[Thrawn]

Cool, I was gonna tell you about those books, but since you already read them there is no need. What did you think of Dark Passions? Most of what I've heard about them has been pretty negative.

I thought they were actually pretty good, world-building-wise, but the characters were sort of annoying. Definitely "fun" reads, as Janos says.

 

[Janos]

I should have added that I also read Dark Mirror in the mid 1990s. It was an "ok" ready, but certainly was contradicted many times when the MU appeared on DS9 TV and in the modern MU novel continuity.

 

[Stoek]

I should have added that I also read Dark Mirror in the mid 1990s. It was an "ok" ready, but certainly was contradicted many times when the MU appeared on DS9 TV and in the modern MU novel continuity.

Ah but was it. *g* Who's to say that there aren't more than one mirror universe. In one reality Spock was sucessful in disbanding the Empire resulting in the Universe seen in the DS9 Episodes, and in another reality he wasn't, resulting in the Universe seen in Dark Mirror.

 

[JD]

Thanks to Feaful Symmetry and Q & A we know there are multiple versions of the Mirror Universe, and that in at least one of them the Terran Empire survived.

 

[Technobuilder]

Does everyone on this board read / purchase all ST lit that comes out? Am I the only one that selectively follows series (for me - NF, DS9, MU) with other one-offs / events as per my mood (for me [recently] Q&A, Destiny, Singular Destiny)?

I started reading Star Trek novels off and on (selectively as you described) when I was in my mid-teens.

Later on in College, when DS9 (my favorite series) which had been off-the-air was announced to be returning with a "Season 8" of sorts in the books. I grew very interested and started picking those up to read in my down time between classes.

The more I read, the deeper I got. I started to see a level of interconnected-ness between stories and characters. I started to read other series based on the authors I'd enjoyed reading previously.

Since most of these authors were writing "all over the ST Universe" my interests expanded with each new (Good) story I picked up. Which resulted, in finding more new authors whose work I enjoyed, which lead to picking up other books they'd written.

A vicious cycle.

I got into Corps Of Engineers, Vanguard, New Frontier, etc. etc. Picked up all the anthologies I could lay my hands on, and then started hitting up used books stores to fill in the out of print books I'd heard I should check out on this very board.

Needless to say, at one point I was buying 2-3 trek books a month for almost 2 years.

That habit has dropped off of late though considering the reduced schedules and various other issues.

But for the most part, I get what I'm interested in.


ALSO

DO NOT BOTHER with Before Dishonor.

Greater Than The Sum gives you everything you need to know and you won't have the nasty headache afterwards.

 

[Janos]

Thanks to Feaful Symmetry and Q & A we know there are multiple versions of the Mirror Universe, and that in at least one of them the Terran Empire survived.

This is why alternate realties / time travel gets confusing. Maybe the doppleganger from "Three" was from a third version of the MU..... *sigh* Anyhow, that said, logically, viewers/readers should have always knowb that it made sense for there to be more than one version of the MU the same way there was more than one version of the main TNG universe as witnessed in that TNG episode where Worf was popping in and out of different realities (Parrallels).

However, it is fair to say that Dark Mirror is inconsistent with the canon established on DS9 TV and, I believe, the MU that is most (if not always) used in ST lit is the MU that builds on the TOS/DS9 version.

That said, I'm very comfortable reading the MU that continues the story from the last version we saw on TV with DS9. I assume David Mack's work will build off of TOS and DS9 MU and not take place in "another" version of the MU?

 

[Janos]

Thanks for sharing Technobuilder. Sounds like you had an expensive few years.

BTW, why not read Before Dishonor. Didn't PAD write that one? BTW, I haven't read it yet, so no spoilers please.

Does everyone on this board read / purchase all ST lit that comes out? Am I the only one that selectively follows series (for me - NF, DS9, MU) with other one-offs / events as per my mood (for me [recently] Q&A, Destiny, Singular Destiny)?

I started reading Star Trek novels off and on (selectively as you described) when I was in my mid-teens.

Later on in College, when DS9 (my favorite series) which had been off-the-air was announced to be returning with a "Season 8" of sorts in the books. I grew very interested and started picking those up to read in my down time between classes.

The more I read, the deeper I got. I started to see a level of interconnected-ness between stories and characters. I started to read other series based on the authors I'd enjoyed reading previously.

Since most of these authors were writing "all over the ST Universe" my interests expanded with each new (Good) story I picked up. Which resulted, in finding more new authors whose work I enjoyed, which lead to picking up other books they'd written.

A vicious cycle.

I got into Corps Of Engineers, Vanguard, New Frontier, etc. etc. Picked up all the anthologies I could lay my hands on, and then started hitting up used books stores to fill in the out of print books I'd heard I should check out on this very board.

Needless to say, at one point I was buying 2-3 trek books a month for almost 2 years.

That habit has dropped off of late though considering the reduced schedules and various other issues.

But for the most part, I get what I'm interested in.


ALSO

DO NOT BOTHER with Before Dishonor.

Greater Than The Sum gives you everything you need to know and you won't have the nasty headache afterwards.

 

[Defcon]

BTW, why not read Before Dishonor. Didn't PAD write that one? BTW, I haven't read it yet, so no spoilers please.

Before Dishonor is regarded as too silly and and outlandish by many here and doesn't really mesh with the characterization of new personnel in the other novels (Margaret Clark's fault more than Peter David's IMO).

Than there's an event in that novel that riled up many people, too.

If you ask me Before Dishonor is the best of the post-Nemesis TNG novels (and that includes Destiny), but I always had a soft spot for PAD's works.

In my opinion Greater than the Sum is the one to avoid, but from past discussions I know I'm in a minority there, too.

 

[Christopher]

However, it is fair to say that Dark Mirror is inconsistent with the canon established on DS9 TV and, I believe, the MU that is most (if not always) used in ST lit is the MU that builds on the TOS/DS9 version.

Well, Dark Mirror came out years before DS9, so it might be more accurate to say that the DS9 version of the Mirror Universe was inconsistent with it.

And yes, the MU books that have come out after DS9 have been consistent with its version of the MU, because naturally all tie-ins are obligated to follow the lead of screen canon. The tie-ins aren't necessarily consistent with each other, but they're all consistent with the shows. For instance, the Dark Passions MU, the more recent Pocket MU, and the MU seen in IDW's Mirror Images miniseries are all consistent with the show but incompatible with each other.

I assume David Mack's work will build off of TOS and DS9 MU and not take place in "another" version of the MU?

Yes, because it's a continuation of the MU tales that have already been told in the Mirror Universe trade-paperback anthologies Glass Empires, Obsidian Alliances, and Shards and Shadows and the novel The Sorrows of Empire (which is itself an expansion of a tale in Glass Empires), and referenced/visited in the DS9 novels Warpath, Fearful Symmetry, and The Soul Key.

 

[Janos]

I assume David Mack's work will build off of TOS and DS9 MU and not take place in "another" version of the MU?

Yes, because it's a continuation of the MU tales that have already been told in the Mirror Universe trade-paperback anthologies Glass Empires, Obsidian Alliances, and Shards and Shadows and the novel The Sorrows of Empire (which is itself an expansion of a tale in Glass Empires), and referenced/visited in the DS9 novels Warpath, Fearful Symmetry, and The Soul Key.

Cool.

Will Rise Like Lions cap off the DS9 MU storyline? Do we know how The Sorrows of the Empire might play into RLL?

Also, was the DS9 title the only one that leaped 5 years forward with TP? Were TNG/Titan/Voyager already "there"? I'm just curious if we'll get some kind of "5 year gap" book(s) at some point bridging the old and new DS9 relaunch titles.

 

[Christopher]

Will Rise Like Lions cap off the DS9 MU storyline? Do we know how The Sorrows of the Empire might play into RLL?

The DS9 part of it was pretty much resolved in The Soul Key, I believe. TSK is, in fact, the farthest forward in time of all the MU tales in that continuity to date (in January 2377). As for the rest, once you've read the MU books, you'll probably have a good sense of what threads are likely to come to a climax in RLL (though Dave might surprise us). Other than that, it would be too much of a spoiler to comment.

Also, was the DS9 title the only one that leaped 5 years forward with TP? Were TNG/Titan/Voyager already "there"?

The TNG "relaunch" and TTN book series both picked up after Nemesis, putting them in 2379/80 to start with. When it was decided to cross them over in Destiny, their timeline was bumped forward to 2381. At the time, VGR's post-finale novels were stalled in 2378, but an event pivotal to the VGR continuity had happened in a TNG novel set in 2380; so it made sense to bring VGR forward past that event and into the 2381 timeframe, and that's what Full Circle did. At the same time, there were still a few book series whose "present" was in 2376-7: DS9 (and by extension MU), Corps of Engineers, and Gorkon/Klingon Empire. But CoE ended when the original eBook line was halted and G/KE stalled out, so that left DS9, making it the one series to be "jumped forward" to that extent.

I believe that New Frontier's most recent book was set in 2380, but I don't know when the next one is set.

I'm just curious if we'll get some kind of "5 year gap" book(s) at some point bridging the old and new DS9 relaunch titles.

A lot of people have wondered that, and it could happen, but we don't know yet.

 

[JD]

At the same time, there were still a few book series whose "present" was in 2376-7: DS9 (and by extension MU), Corps of Engineers, and Gorkon/Klingon Empire. But CoE ended when the original eBook line was halted and G/KE stalled out, so that left DS9, making it the one series to be "jumped forward" to that extent.

The IKG/KE series was kinda jumped forward in A Singular Destiny. Several of the characters play a minor role in the story , and it also gives us some updates on what has happened to other characters who don't actually appear in the story. We don't know if any there will be know if there will be anymore entries in the series, but it does show and tell us what the characters are up to 5 years after the last KE book.

 

[Therin of Andor]

I'm pretty sure Therin and Steve Roby buy all of them

Yep. All my Pockets are first editions and I simply can't stop now. I was totally caught up on my reading until DS9 and VOY came along, and again just before "Mission Gamma".