Favorite SNW Stories?

[Jim Johnson]

I'm gonna take the cheap and easy road and say that I enjoyed the vast majority of SNW stories.

SNW volumes are like a grab bag of Trek goodness. Rather than a themed anthology where you're fairly confident you know what you're going to get (Tales of the Dominion War, Lives of Dax, Constellations), there were no boundaries for SNW stories aside from the few contest rules. This meant the sky was truly the limit, in the best Trek sense.

I'm happy to have been part of SNW, and am sorry to have seen it go.

 

[tranya]

I'm still new to the Trek lit world, and I understand the current inviability of the SNW series, but have there ever been any discussions of moving something like SNW to an online venue? Instead of one volume per year (and the associated costs of editing, printing, distributing), something in which a sanctioned Pocket Books website had an ongoing submissions process and, perhaps, a new story was published online each month? Sell them as eBooks? Something like that?

Please forgive my ignorance, if these are stupid questions. Marco (or anyone else in the know), has anything like this ever been discussed?

(Full disclosure: I'm one of those dudes who mulled over writing a specific story for years, then finally sat down to put fingers to keyboard ... and found out the series was over. I'm bummed that I procrastinated and missed the opportunity, as I think my story would have turned out okay!)

 

[KRAD]

^ It's not remotely viable because eBooks sell a teeny tiny fraction of what print books sell, and while you do save the cost of printing and warehousing, you still have to pay the talent, which includes somebody to do what DWS did for the anthologies and the authors themselves, all for sales that will be a teeny tiny fraction of lousy.

 

[Jim Johnson]

have there ever been any discussions of moving something like SNW to an online venue? Instead of one volume per year (and the associated costs of editing, printing, distributing), something in which a sanctioned Pocket Books website had an ongoing submissions process and, perhaps, a new story was published online each month? Sell them as eBooks? Something like that?

Even if you move it online, you're still paying the editor, writer, copyeditor, typesetter, etc. I doubt a ebook-only or online version is viable right now. Though I'll leave it to the editors to say for sure.

One way to make something like SNW viable could be to borrow an idea similar to how Games Workshop handles their more recent short story anthologies--plan a themed anthology and fill 60-70% of the anthology with stories by established writers in the universe, and open the remaining percentage to fresh voices, much as SNW did. That way a prospective reader (and buyer) knows they're getting stories from writers they know, plus some stories by new writers.

You'd still need a submission process and rules and a patient editor like Dean Wesley Smith to handle the submission workload, but placing stringent submission deadlines on it would likely narrow the number of submissions.

 

[tranya]

 

[Amy Sisson]

Coming late to the discussion, in no particular order:

"The Beginning" by Annie Reed (SNW VI, Speculations)
"Of Cabbages and Kings" by Franklin Thatcher (SNW, Next Gen)
"Gumbo" by Amy Vincent (SNW 8, DS9)
"Ninety-Three Hours" by Kim Sheard (SNW III, DS9)

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Is there such a thing as a "SNW Wiki"? If not, why not make one?

 

[Geoff Thorne]

Is there such a thing as a "SNW Wiki"? If not, why not make one?

The ever awesome Mr. Jeff Ayers covers all of SNW in his compendium, VOYAGES OF THE IMAGINATION.

It really is a must-have book for the true Lit fan. I still can't believe he did the damned thing. Lunatic.

 

[Christopher]

Is there such a thing as a "SNW Wiki"? If not, why not make one?

http://startrek.wikia.com/wiki/Strange_New_Worlds

 

[William Leisner]

Is there such a thing as a "SNW Wiki"? If not, why not make one?

Go right ahead.

 

[DimesDan]

Is there such a thing as a "SNW Wiki"? If not, why not make one?

The ever awesome Mr. Jeff Ayers covers all of SNW in his compendium, VOYAGES OF THE IMAGINATION.

It really is a must-have book for the true Lit fan. I still can't believe he did the damned thing. Lunatic.

It is a very handy resource and alas at present is the only contact I have had for both SNW and SCE as well as numerous other novels published which I have not read yet, but I do plan on rectifying that at some stage in the new year.

 

[Admiral James Kirk]

Which are your favorite Strange New Worlds stories? I've only read a few volumes, and would love to read more.

Please suggest specific stories (even your own, if you're feeling particularly self-promoting)!

Now I haven't read every SNW volume so don't expect a huge list. I'm just going to list the ones I liked the most... I liked a lot of the ones that I didn't list here.

Reflections by Dayton Ward (SNW 1)

Triptych by Melissa Dickinson (SNW 2)

The Hero of My Own Life by Peg Robinson (SNW 2)

Doctors Three by Charles Skaggs (SNW 2)

I Am Become Death by Franklin Thatcher (SNW 2)

A Test of Character by Kevin Lauderdale (SNW 7)

Guardians by Brett Hudgins (SNW 7)

Don't Call Me Tiny by Paul Tseng (SNW 8)

Gumbo by Amy Vincent (SNW 8)

Alpha & Omega by Derek Tyler Attico (SNW 8): My favorite SNW story of all time. Just an awesome read. All the others I've listed are fantastic by A&O is the... Alpha and omega of SNW stories. At least for me.

Book of Fulfillment by Steven Costa (SNW 9)

Staying the Course by Paul Tseng (SNW 9)

Rounding a Corner Already Turned by Allison Cain (SNW 9)

Rocket Man by Some Prick (SNW 9)

 

[PaulSimpson]

Is there such a thing as a "SNW Wiki"? If not, why not make one?

The ever awesome Mr. Jeff Ayers covers all of SNW in his compendium, VOYAGES OF THE IMAGINATION.

It really is a must-have book for the true Lit fan. I still can't believe he did the damned thing. Lunatic.

QFT on both levels!

 

[tranya]

I'd never heard of Voyages of Imagination before, but I'm now glad I have! By the way, it's available for quite cheap (less than $5 new) at some remainder reseller websites -- bookcloseouts.com and hamiltonbook.com are two I check out fairly frequently. Ordering it tonight.