^That actually makes a lot of sense.
Peter David
- Thread starter Garm Bel Iblis
- Start date
I find that while I still like Peter's stories well enough to keep buying, I am tiring of his characterizations. Every single one is a snarky joke machine to the point where they all sound the same. It gets tedious. NF is basically Star Trek: The Sitcom and I suppose there is room for that so I keep reading it.
That's fine. That's valid. But I personally do not read Peter David when I want to think. That's what Frank Herbert is sitting on my shelf for. I read Peter David when I want to feel.
As a man who puts heart over intellect any day of the week I can think of no finer compliment.
I think he's a comic book writer who only thinks he's a novel writer.
darkwing_duck1
Vice Admiral
Add me to the list of those who appreciated his earlier works more than the current crop. I got out about the time he added in the TAS characters, because I thought he badly misrepresented them...
No, I did not think that at all.
I need to re-read the earlier NF books. I don't mind the newer ones, but I think I just enjoyed the cast of the earlier stories. The new ones have too many characters in too many settings. I liked it better when all the characters were on the Excalibur, not spread out on starbases and the Trident and New Thallon and whatnot. Too much to keep track of!
Then you haven't read his excellent "Sir Apropos of Nothing" trilogy.
Or "Imzadi". Or "A Rock and a Hard Place". Or "Stone and Anvil".
In the DC Comics' TOS movie era Series I, or "New Frontier"?
Because TAS hardly did anything to develop Arex and M'ress. Alan Dean Foster did a little in the "ST Logs". But most character development of Arex and M'Ress is due to Peter David.
I like Peter David. His novels may not be exactly 'mainstream' but he adds a nice other layer to Star Trek. And as someone else said, he often writes some very powerful scenes/concepts in his books, that make me stop and think.
In some ways he reminds me of Russel T. Davies and what he did with Dr. Who.
In some ways he reminds me of Russel T. Davies and what he did with Dr. Who.
And like others have said, I have to chime in with agreement here. I remember a time when a Peter David release was always considered THE event in TrekLit, in the days of Imzadi, Vendetta, Q-Squared, etc. That was good stuff, and in many ways is indicative of exactly what we love about the current crop of TrekLit: Good eye for past continuity and desire to 'connect the dots', humor (hit or miss, yes, but compared to some of the stodgier stuff coming out at the time, PD's work was a godsend), and just generally bigger and more epic ideas than most writers at the time would be trusted to handle.
This all being said, the landscape has changed, now. He's not the only writer doing this kind of thing anymore, which has been a very good thing for TrekLit. I think the problem is less that he's necessarily lost anything or needs to retire so much as he's simply been surpassed by the writers of today. I certainly find the older material perfectly readable and enjoyable to this day, though I can see where the writing isn't quite as strong as what I've come to know nowadays.
I really like the Russel T. Davis analogy as David's work really feels like this in terms of being utterly bombastic at times, in the best possible way. Before Dishonor, though really was somewhat execrable, in my opinion... I'm willing to call that a fluke, though, as it's the first thing I've seen him write in the mainstream continuity (as opposed to playing in his private sandbox) in nearly a decade.
I really think you're right there. Part of the biggest problem with BD (IMO) was that it was just so different from the rest of the books in the main continuity, but I think that hadn't needed to be a concern it probably would have worked alot better.
If you think about it, it really says alot about the franchise that we can have the kind of books that PAD writes, and then at the same time have Destiny and the Vanguard.
If you think about it, it really says alot about the franchise that we can have the kind of books that PAD writes, and then at the same time have Destiny and the Vanguard.
I like what I've read of Peter David's stuff. I enjoyed his straight-laced older books as well as the Stargate SG1-style OTT silliness of Before Dishonor (so what if it has a different vibe to the rest of the TNG relaunch? Variety = good)
I think his style is perfectly suited to the STXI crew, and should any STXI books ever be released I'd like to see his take on the new crew (which would no doubt make Scotty's Willy Wonka tribute and Kirk's super-promotion appear mundane by comparison)
I've been collecting old New Frontier's for years now and I'm looking forward to actually reading though the lot.
Everyone says Imzadi is awsome. But isn't it Chick Lit? Tell me otherwise and I'll read it.
I think his style is perfectly suited to the STXI crew, and should any STXI books ever be released I'd like to see his take on the new crew (which would no doubt make Scotty's Willy Wonka tribute and Kirk's super-promotion appear mundane by comparison)
I've been collecting old New Frontier's for years now and I'm looking forward to actually reading though the lot.
Everyone says Imzadi is awsome. But isn't it Chick Lit? Tell me otherwise and I'll read it.
Well Imzadi made me cry like a 14 year old girl but please understand I was a 19 year old male when I read it. That book made me grow a big hairy mangina and I love it! It being Imzadi NOT my mangina. 
Not everyone!
I picked it up a few months back, it was an okay read but wasn't anything mind blowing.
As for PADs work now and then, I couldn't really comment, I remember reading Vendetta, Q in Law and Q Squared years ago and enjoying them, as for Before Dishonour, I thought it was a fun romp, but I've never read New Frontier so I have no idea what is writings really like compared to what it was 10, 20 years ago.
Well Imzadi made me cry like a 14 year old girl but please understand I was a 19 year old male when I read it. That book made me grow a big hairy mangina and I love it! It being Imzadi NOT my mangina.
I'm right there with ya.
Well Imzadi made me cry like a 14 year old girl but please understand I was a 19 year old male when I read it. That book made me grow a big hairy mangina and I love it! It being Imzadi NOT my mangina.
It did close up and go away afterwards, right?
Not if I keep picking at it.
As someone who got into Peter David on his run of Hulk comic books when I was 15, and who got into Trek Lit (though not at ALL to the extent I have been since the relaunch, at a ratio of about 20:1) after reading Imzadi all those years ago, I have to say I love what PD brings, and I especially loved Before Dishonor. In fact I enjoyed it as much as any book in the post-Nemesis storyline, with the exception of Destiny. And I LOVE Titan and the DS9 relaunch, so that's saying something.
Maybe its that 'fanboyish' thing, but to me the pleasure of seeing 5 or 6 episodes worth of refrences/characters/events mixing together in high-concept fashion is GREAT and if things are a little pun-heavy or comedy-forced, I don't really care. The pluto thing, the thing that they had to get to fight the other thing (no spoilers!), the way he used VOY, TOS and TNG characters, and how he had the balls to reference even his own early 90s ST book (which I had to go back and re-read) - these things made BD great. I love PD's chutzpah and he can spin a galactic space-opera tale on as grand a scale as any Trek author.
Having said that, I've yet to get into NF, just due to my personal prejudice against totally non-show related books. But I think when I run out of other stuff I will.
And honestly, this is not original fiction, so I don't really read Trek to do anything more than get a good Sci-Fi buzz, hang out with some familiar faces, and see what's going on in the Trek universe -- not to totally question my place in the world (which is what I like in other art forms). This is pulp fiction and in that sense its brought me hours of joy, and I would never have been so bitten if not for that 19 year old me who read Imzadi back in the day.
Maybe its that 'fanboyish' thing, but to me the pleasure of seeing 5 or 6 episodes worth of refrences/characters/events mixing together in high-concept fashion is GREAT and if things are a little pun-heavy or comedy-forced, I don't really care. The pluto thing, the thing that they had to get to fight the other thing (no spoilers!), the way he used VOY, TOS and TNG characters, and how he had the balls to reference even his own early 90s ST book (which I had to go back and re-read) - these things made BD great. I love PD's chutzpah and he can spin a galactic space-opera tale on as grand a scale as any Trek author.
Having said that, I've yet to get into NF, just due to my personal prejudice against totally non-show related books. But I think when I run out of other stuff I will.
And honestly, this is not original fiction, so I don't really read Trek to do anything more than get a good Sci-Fi buzz, hang out with some familiar faces, and see what's going on in the Trek universe -- not to totally question my place in the world (which is what I like in other art forms). This is pulp fiction and in that sense its brought me hours of joy, and I would never have been so bitten if not for that 19 year old me who read Imzadi back in the day.
I loved a lot of his early novels (A Rock and a Hard Place is a classic) but started losing interest after Vendetta, and finally checked out after New Frontier. Just not to my taste I guess.
