Is "No Limits" essential NF?

[F. King Daniel]

Should I read the "No Limits" anthology now or can I skip ahead to "Stone and Anvil" without any trouble? Does NL introduce any major characters or events into the NF universe, or is it non-essential fleshing out of character backstories?

Even if I don't read it now I plan to do so later. I'm just kind of more in the mood to start a full-length novel than read through short stories.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Paris]

It's "non-essential fleshing out of character backstories". Feel free to jump into Stone and Anvil. You can pick it up later. IMO, it's as essential as Tales of the Dominion War or Tales from the Captain's Table.

 

[F. King Daniel]

Excellent. Thank you very much!

 

[Paris]

 

[KRAD]

Should I read the "No Limits" anthology now or can I skip ahead to "Stone and Anvil" without any trouble? Does NL introduce any major characters or events into the NF universe, or is it non-essential fleshing out of character backstories?

Wow, really? Fleshing out of character backstories is "non-essential"?

Anyhow, it's all "non-essential" because it's fiction and therefore a luxury item. How-some-ever, the point of the anthology is to provide looks at the various characters (and, in one case, the ship) prior to the events of House of Cards, the lone exception being Peter's own story about Shelby and Calhoun's honeymoon.

But the anthology can be read any time, really, so you won't be missing anything "essential" if you skip to Stone and Anvil.

 

[CaffeineAddict]

Even if you do skip it now, definitely read it at some point. Its got lots of good stories, and it's nice to get other author's takes on the characters.

 

[Stevil2001]

I dunno if it's "essential," but it's the best of the New Frontier stories published after eXcalibur.

 

[Julio Angel Ortiz]

The story with Kebron undercover as a statue (IIRC) alone was worth the price of admission.

 

[Paris]

The story with Kebron undercover as a statue (IIRC) alone was worth the price of admission.

QFT! That story was great! It makes me wish Mr. Mack was writing new New Frontier tales for all of us

 

[JD]

I think that was probably my favorite story in the book. It proves Mack can do small, humorous stories just as well as the epic exciting stories.

 

[F. King Daniel]

I'm finally reading this and I'm so glad I am - Shelby's story is (unfortuantely) filler, Kebron's is hilarious, Robin's has this expertly-done creeping misery of a broken family running through it and Morgan's is probably the darkest Trek story ever published, and fantastic.

 

[ronny]

The story with Kebron undercover as a statue (IIRC) alone was worth the price of admission.

QFT! That story was great! It makes me wish Mr. Mack was writing new New Frontier tales for all of us

One of the funniest Trek stories I remember reading. Easily my favorite in the book.

 

[Therin of Andor]

Just noticed it's coming to German translation, "Grenzenlos" from Cross Cult, next March. Great new cover art, including Arex!

http://www.thetrekcollective.com/2015/03/books-bits-more-details-of-50th.html

 

[Kilana2]

Just noticed it's coming to German translation, "Grenzenlos" from Cross Cult, next March. Great new cover art, including Arex!

http://www.thetrekcollective.com/2015/03/books-bits-more-details-of-50th.html

The German NF covers are definitely better. Releasing the NF Gateways novel, but not the other Gateways novels is beyond me, though.

 

[USS Firefly]

Why are the German covers always better?

 

[Defcon]

Just noticed it's coming to German translation, "Grenzenlos" from Cross Cult, next March. Great new cover art, including Arex!

http://www.thetrekcollective.com/2015/03/books-bits-more-details-of-50th.html

Wow, necroing a thread that had no posts in more than a year for "info" that has been posted here in March already ( http://www.trekbbs.com/showthread.php?p=10861591#post10861591 )?

 

[dstyer]

Back to the Original theme of the thread, I am planning to start a massive full-on re-read of NF prior to the e-book releases. However, I am not thrilled at the prospect of re-reading "Double Helix". May I ask (please, no spoilers, my memory of these books is very spotty) how essential the NF chapter in that mini-series is to the NF universe? And if I should include it in my re-read, is it any help at all to read all 6 DH books?

 

[Kilana2]

Back to the Original theme of the thread, I am planning to start a massive full-on re-read of NF prior to the e-book releases. However, I am not thrilled at the prospect of re-reading "Double Helix". May I ask (please, no spoilers, my memory of these books is very spotty) how essential the NF chapter in that mini-series is to the NF universe? And if I should include it in my re-read, is it any help at all to read all 6 DH books?

The NF Double Helix novel might be useful. Forget about the other DH novels, they are not relevant to NF.

 

[Stevil2001]

Yeah, Double or Nothing is essential to NF, but the rest of Double Helix is not essential to Double or Nothing.

 

[Therin of Andor]

The German NF covers are definitely better. Releasing the NF Gateways novel, but not the other Gateways novels is beyond me, though.

I disagree they are "definitely better". I really dislike the Calhoun they depict on the German covers. The US model (a neighbour of artist Keith Birdsong) is the Calhoun I imagine when I read the books.

I have enjoyed the Cross Cult use of character art over starships and swords, especially the two featuring Janos the Mugato, simply because he has never been featured on the US books, but the current M'ress pic (on "Mehr als Götter" - "Gods Above") is essentially a domestic cat in a wig.

Why are the German covers always better?

They have the benefit of feedback on the US covers. And they seem to emphasise characters. The US covers went more generic, with swords, and are presumably cheaper to produce than original character art. Cross Cult is aiming at a smaller, niche market and its artists may not have such high fees for creating character art?

Yeah, Double or Nothing is essential to NF, but the rest of Double Helix is not essential to Double or Nothing.

Cross Cult seem to release translations according to how well they think they will sell. Sensible! Some of the "Double Helix" books were very disappointing, and of no interest to NF readers/collectors.