Spoilers DTI: Forgotten History by C. L. Bennett Review Thread

[Christopher]

Followers of my website may have begun to think that I was taking the title of DTI: Forgotten History too literally, since I haven’t updated the site with annotations or even non-spoiler discussion and ordering links for the book — a major oversight for which I apologize. Everything but the spoiler notes should really have been up before the book came out over two months ago, so I really dropped the ball on that one. But that oversight has now been rectified, and the main page with basic discussion, ordering links, and a link to the annotations page can be accessed at:

http://home.fuse.net/ChristopherLBennett/Trekfiction.html#DTIFH

 

[shanejayell]

Yay! *rushes off to read*

 

[Plaristes]

Yay! *rushes off to read*

Me, too.

 

[Stoek]

Sincerest thanks for finding or making the time in what I'm sure is a very busy life to do the annotations. I always look forward to them.

 

[Gotham Central]

I would also like to add my voice to the chorus thanking Christopher for the annotations. As a fan of Trek and TrekLit, one of the things that I love about his books is the attention to the details of the expanded Trek universe. I love is references to past Trek stories and characters. You occasionally run across something thing that you've never hear of and that leads to a new story to read. I'm sure other authors do just as much research, the annotations help us to identify how these stories fit in a larger trek tapestry. (plus its fun to find the easter egg references to other scifi burried in his work).

 

[captcalhoun]

really enjoyed this. Antonio Delgado, Anthony Ainley and Roger Delgado homage, right?

(i'm not reading a 25 page thread to check)

 

[Christopher]

^Loosely. You can read my annotations if you want.

 

[ronny]

I was about 300 pages into this and was thinking this is the best TOS book I've read in a long time. Then Lucsly hears Spock and Grey talking and he realizes history isn't what he thought it was, Lucsly meets Kirk, Dulmur and Luclsy realize Kirk does future time travel tricks because he learned from them, Luclsy's telling of the story to the rest of the DTI staff that hides what happened, all that stuff. That elevates the book even further. This was a really fun read. After just finishing WtC I was expecting a similar book with a lot of flashbacks and hard core science explained but this was more of a fun adventure and a ton of integrating TOS/TAS time travel stories. This was all great stuff. I rated this and WtC both outstanding. This was a great duology.

 

[Christopher]

^Thank you!

 

[Markonian]

^Thank you!

How likely is a thid DTI book? With both TNG- and TOS-based books, maybe it's time (time ) to feature the next series, like DS9 or VOY?

 

[Christopher]

How likely is a thid DTI book? With both TNG- and TOS-based books, maybe it's time (time ) to feature the next series, like DS9 or VOY?

Actually Watching the Clock covered TNG, DS9, VGR, and ENT about equally. Lucsly & Dulmur are DS9 characters, after all, and the impact of Janeway's time travels was a significant element in the story.

At the moment, there are no plans for a third DTI book. To be honest, I'm still a little amazed I got to do even one of them, let alone two.

 

[Relayer1]

How likely is a thid DTI book? With both TNG- and TOS-based books, maybe it's time (time ) to feature the next series, like DS9 or VOY?

Actually Watching the Clock covered TNG, DS9, VGR, and ENT about equally. Lucsly & Dulmur are DS9 characters, after all, and the impact of Janeway's time travels was a significant element in the story.

At the moment, there are no plans for a third DTI book. To be honest, I'm still a little amazed I got to do even one of them, let alone two.

To be honest, I'm still a little amazed that you managed to stitch that all together in a coherent way, let alone put in a plot and make it entertaining.

Nicely done Christopher !

 

[shanejayell]

Has the DTI ever investigated the Tasha Yar/Sela situation? Could be the basis of one plotline in a DTI novel....

 

[Charles Phipps]

http://unitedfederationofcharles.blogspot.com/2013/05/star-trek-department-of-temporal.html

Here's my review of Forgotten History. It's about a year late but my opinion is pretty much in line with everyone else. CL Bennet's ability to "arc weld" is one of my favorite qualities about the man. I also appreciate his incorporation of RL physics into the books. Unfortunately, he did such a good job with the previous book, I wanted to see Lucsly and Dulmer more than the original series cast.

 

[Christopher]

^Thanks for the review! About the bit that annoyed you... if it's the thing I think you mean, I'd point out that Lucsly isn't a Starfleet officer, but a civilian government agent. And his job involves a lot of classified and potentially dangerous knowledge, so sometimes being selective about the truth is part of his job.

 

[Charles Phipps]

^Thanks for the review! About the bit that annoyed you... if it's the thing I think you mean, I'd point out that Lucsly isn't a Starfleet officer, but a civilian government agent. And his job involves a lot of classified and potentially dangerous knowledge, so sometimes being selective about the truth is part of his job.

I understand. Also, it fits with the themes of the book as well as "Once More Into the Breach" where the importance of figures' factual history has less to do with their importance than people think. Still, I've always been vaguely suspicious of books/TV that go, "we can't handle the truth!" I imagined it wouldn't have bothered me were it not Kirk.

Thanks for responding!

I intend to read many more of your books in the future! (I really enjoyed the Titan one!)

 

[Charles Phipps]

BTW, my favorite part of this book was definitely the retcons. A lot of the biggest continuity questions I had about Star Trek were answered in this book. Getting answers for the Yangs and "Counter-Earth" was worth the price of it on Kindle alone.

Kudos!

(The explanation for Counter-Earth was also similar to the one I used in my home Star Trek game)

 

[publiusr]

I rated this as outstanding--such a great novel.

 

[Cap'n Crunch]

Unfortunately, he did such a good job with the previous book, I wanted to see Lucsly and Dulmer more than the original series cast.

I totally agree with this statement.

Getting answers for the Yangs and "Counter-Earth" was worth the price of it on Kindle alone.

It's been a while since I read the book, can you remind me what the explanation for the Yangs was?

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

^ IIRC, it was like this:

Spoiler: DTI

The Yangs didn't really have their own version of the US flag, the Constitution, and the Declaration of Independence. Those were left behind by an Earth cargo ship - the ECS Philadelphia - that visited the planet. The crew of the Philadelphia left those important documents there to inspire the Yangs in their fight for freedom. And let's be honest, the documents as seen in the episode can't actually be as old as the Yangs say they are - they would have crumbled into dust long ago. The Yangs incorporated those documents into their own mythology and forgot where they 'really' came from.

Unfortunately, it's likely that the crew of the Philadelphia subsequently died from the Omega IV virus after they left the planet...