I've agreed with Tacky a couple of times, so weirder things have happened.There are places in this world that we can agree
Peter David
- Thread starter Garm Bel Iblis
- Start date
Knowing that reading his books is like stuffing a whole pack of Hubba Bubba in my mouth at once I quite enjoy the experience for what it is. I really do think he's one of the best writers I've come across who is able to tell a good story that is bursting at the seams with incredulity and broad humor, yet I want more nearly every time I finish a book.
Like or hate him he's wholly original. And I'd hardly call him anything like a comic book writer who thinks he's a novelist or something.
Like or hate him he's wholly original. And I'd hardly call him anything like a comic book writer who thinks he's a novelist or something.
I'd say that's unfair, considering that he's written literally DOZENS of novels, some of which have been on the bestseller lists. You can say you think he's a bad writer or that his novels aren't to your taste, but to say that PAD is not a novelist is just denying reality.
And I resent the implication that it takes less skill to write a good comic book than it does to write a good novel.
Peter David wasn't the one who added Arex & M'ress to DC's Trek comic. That was Len Wein.
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Which is funny, because as Peter always says, the other thing he used to get credit for all the time was turning the Hulk gray, intelligent and mean--and he wasn't the one who did that either (it was Al Milgrom, who immediately preceded Peter on The Incredible Hulk).
No... certain writers just have their elements where they write better than in other instances. For me, Peter David is at his very best when her merges TOS and TNG elements together, or does stuff like Imzadi. But as I consider his ability to bring TOS and TNG together in a flawless story like Vendetta, to me, that is his strong point... his niche' is to be the Harry Turtledove of Trekdom... the one who writes "what if" types of stories.
I'm fully aware of that. But it was Peter David who started giving both characters personalities - M'Ress flirting with Sulu, etc. - beyond what Len Wein and Mike Carlin did with them.
And PAD's plans for Arex (to move across to Security in NF) was essentually a lost plot thread from DC TOS Series II, when Arex was contractually replaced by Ensign Fouton.
I can't tell you how disturbing that is.Not if I keep picking at it.
Count me as one who not only really enjoys Peter David's work (althought I'm not a fanboy), but who also enjoyed Before Dishonor. Maybe it was because I went in with lowered expectations (because of word of mouth) but I thought it was perfectly enjoyable.
darkwing_duck1
Vice Admiral
New Frontier.
I didn't like what he did. I thought the whole sexual harassment subplot inappropriate for a Trek novel and hated how he subsequently turned M'ress into a bitch towards just about everyone...
True. It's just that PAD was the first one to use the grey Hulk extensively, so his work had a bigger impact. And the fact that he wrote the book for about a decade (!!!) tends to overshadow the folks who came before & after him.
I wonder if Arex would've taken the radical action that Fouton did, though (being vague since I've forgotten how to do spoiler text here) -- or was that simply a way to write Fouton out of the book?
Precisely why it was an important plot thread. Something that TV ST had never dealt with, and it's dealt with most other 20th and 21st century social issues via 23rd and 24th century storylines. It was supposed to make us feel uncomfortable. And now that the nasty incident is (hopefully) mostly behind her, we should be seeing a return to her bouncier status quo.
I've often pondered this. I have a strong suspicion that Arex was going to end up in very hot water if he got that subplot - there was even a promotion for an "Arex on his own" issue in the lettercol. However, I'm assuming PAD might have come up with a clever twist on Arex's solution; on the other hand, he was requested to write out M'yra, Fouton, RJ Blaise and Kathy Li after their short stints.
Like many of you have said,I loved the earlier work such as "A rock and a hard place" and "Imzadi",there was a genuine warmth between the characters and a real sense of fun.I miss that.
The recent trend of Treklit seems(to me at least)at inflicting as much death,misery and major property damage on the Federation as one can cram into one book.Even TITAN which is the "seek out and explore.."wing of Treklit seems so dour and earnest to me,that a little of PAD's lightness wouldn't go amiss.
The recent trend of Treklit seems(to me at least)at inflicting as much death,misery and major property damage on the Federation as one can cram into one book.Even TITAN which is the "seek out and explore.."wing of Treklit seems so dour and earnest to me,that a little of PAD's lightness wouldn't go amiss.
darkwing_duck1
Vice Admiral
I personally found it not only in very poor taste, but very UN Trek. Federation officers don't act that way towards other officers. And "cultural differences" doesn't wash with me either. Deltans took oaths of celibacy to keep their natures from becoming problematic to other crew. Should Selevians (sp?) be held to a lesser standard?
It was very unpleasant and VERY unwelcome to have crop up in the middle of a Trek story.
Before Dishonor has a good story sabotaged by poor editing, and had Margaret wielded her editorial red pen and chopped a third or sent the manuscript back to Peter and said, like the line from A River Runs Through It, "Again, half as long," Before Dishonor would have been a much stronger novel and could have been a classic. As it stands, Margaret and Peter's failures to properly edit and rewrite the manuscript leaves a book that's merely potential but still "entertaining as fuck" (lovely phrase, btw) in the "I can't believe I'm watching a train wreck" sort of way.
darkwing_duck1 - the whole point of the story was that Starfleet officers didn't behave that way, and so no one really knew who to believe or how to deal with it. And at the end of Stone & Anvil, we found out that the Selelvians were manipulating starfleet with the Knack the whole time, and it kicked off a war! (Granted, the books skipped over that war, but still - a war.) The story about Gleau's sexual harassment was a story about finding some wolves in sheep's clothing in the flock, the whole POINT was that "cultural differences" didn't wash.
I think PAD would agree with everything you posted.
I think PAD would agree with everything you posted.
And the Selevians chose not to reveal the extent of their powers.
Again, this was the point of the storyline. Deltans volunteered an oath of celibacy when they realised what their pheromones did to humans and other humanoids. Selevians kept the deeper powers of "the Knack" a secret. And Gleau targeted a time-displaced potential victim, who may well have been used to different sensibilities in her century.
It was supposed to be unpleasant and confronting. So, too, is date rape in the 21st century - but never talking about it adds to the problem. Again, that was PAD's point, AFAIK.
yes, it was in Being Human.
Nardpuncher
Rear Admiral
I used to love Peter David so much. I lost track of the NF stuff back after book 5...too late to catch up now. I did read Before Dishonor and it was like reading a Mack Bolan Trek book in the sense that it felt like a bunch of action scenes put together by a hack.
Did anyone else have that where you'd be thinking about some line of dialog or scene and wonder what episode of TNG it was from and then remember it was something he'd written?
Happened to me a couple of times.
Did anyone else have that where you'd be thinking about some line of dialog or scene and wonder what episode of TNG it was from and then remember it was something he'd written?
Happened to me a couple of times.
