Random Trek Lit Questions...

[BobtheGunslinge]

I'm just making one thread for lots of little, weird questions instead of making a new thread each time. If anyone else has random questions, too, then please jump right in.

Is the nickname "Future Guy" in DTI: Watching the Clock a reference to Firsttvdrama?
Will there be any more DTI novels or short stories (besides the first 2 books)? Please?

Have any novels dealt (well) with:
Threshhold and/or the Warp 10 shuttlecraft?
V'Ger's non-Borg origins?
The Whale Probe?
The Dyson Sphere?
The Sheliak?
The Baku's continued(?) existence?
Barclay?
The Warp Scale Recalibration?
The Crystalline Entity?
The Scimitar (or Romulan/Reman ships like it)?
Valdore-type Warbirds (any backstory or specs appreciated)?
Three-Nacelled Galaxy Class 'dreadnoughts'?
The drawn-out death of Neelix?
Jellico?
Maxwell (the Wounded)?
Gul Madred?
Those clicky subspace aliens that abducted Riker?
Riker sitting down mounting his chair like a horse?
The Jandrew Edits/TNG Edits (or other inside jokes for fans)

How many older novels or episodes have been purposely left out of the new post-Nemesis continuity?

Is there any chance of a Trek Lit Technical Manual/Starship Spotter/Companion?

Thank you all for your time.

 

[Therin of Andor]

Is the nickname "Future Guy" in DTI: Watching the Clock a reference to Firsttvdrama?

Quote from that webpage: "Rediculous" (sic)

Have any novels dealt (well) with:
Threshhold and/or the Warp 10 shuttlecraft?
V'Ger's non-Borg origins?
The Whale Probe?
The Dyson Sphere?
The Sheliak?
The Baku's continued(?) existence?
Barclay?
The Warp Scale Recalibration?
The Crystalline Entity?... etc

All quickly answered on "Memory Beta":
http://memory-beta.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page

 

[SicOne]

Go to Ex Astris Scientia for your ship questions. Here is a link for their database, which holds all kinds of interesting articles and detail to support it all.

http://www.ex-astris-scientia.org/starship_database.htm

 

[SicOne]

Three-nacelled Galaxy-class dreadnought? A short time ago, I found this (link below) on a site of Trek blueprints. This particular entry, written in a style a la Jane's Fighting Ships, was especially well-written. What you're looking for is the Entente-class dreadnought on page 15.

http://www.cygnus-x1.net/links/lcars/Ships-Of-The-Starfleet-Vol-2.php

 

[Paper Moon]

Have any novels dealt (well) with:
<snip>

All quickly answered on "Memory Beta":
http://memory-beta.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page

The problem with Memory Beta is the spoilers. I think it'd be nicer to supply a list of relevant novels that BobtheGunslinge can read on his own.

My attempt (I thought the formatting would increase readability– not sure now, and all the underlines [taking the place of italics] look like a bunch of links. Oh well):

Threshhold and/or the Warp 10 shuttlecraft? There was a story in one of the Strange New World anthologies about Janeway and Paris's children; I read some of it on Google Books and was not blown away, but YMMV. About the shuttle? Beyond a few scattered references in the recent Voyager novels, nothing to my knowledge.

V'Ger's non-Borg origins? Check out David Mack's recent book, Star Trek: Cold Equations: The Body Electric.

The Whale Probe? Your best bet is Probe, credited to Margaret Wander Bonanno, but apparently not really written (in its final form) by her, according to her book/essay, Probed. (linked to the Word document from her website)

The Dyson Sphere? Not to my knowledge about that particular one, though the novelization of "Relics" goes into some more detail about it. Dyson spheres appear in Mack's Destiny trilogy, though they are just kinda there; we don't learn much about them. Apparently one features in New Frontier: Double or Nothing, though I've never read it. The TOS novel The Starless World, from 1978, focuses on a planet within a Dyson sphere, though from reading the synopsis on MB, it doesn't sound very promising.

The Sheliak? Mentioned in Christopher L. Bennett's The Buried Age, in which they play a key role, but indirectly and off-screen, as it were. Don't learn too much about them. Not many other appearances to speak of, if memory serves, much to my chagrin.

The Baku's continued(?) existence? Not that I'm personally aware. However, the events of Insurrection in general are followed up on, if somewhat indirectly, in Section 31: Abyss, a DS9 relaunch novel, which is very well-liked by many on the BBS.

Barclay? Oh man, he's everywhere. Features prominently in the recent Voyager novels, as well as very prominently in David "lonemagpie" McIntee's Indistinguishable From Magic.

The Warp Scale Recalibration? Not that I'm aware, though there are several of the Lost Era novels that I haven't read yet. Might get a sidelong reference somewhere in there, though I've never heard of such a thing, and that's the kind of thing I tend to come across (even if I haven't read the novels yet. )

The Crystalline Entity? Yup! See Star Trek: Titan: Orion's Hounds, a masterwork by Christopher L. Bennett. (The Crystalline Entity isn't the only thing that makes a fascinating appearance in there, either).

The Scimitar (or Romulan/Reman ships like it)? Some background is provided in the short story, "Twilight's Wrath," included in the Tales of the Dominion War anthology.

Valdore-type Warbirds (any backstory or specs appreciated)? Established as Mogai class in Titan: Taking Wing, they make various appearances in recent novels, from which you can cobble together some stuff. The Memory Beta entry is pretty spoiler-free, with the exception of the "History" section.

Three-Nacelled Galaxy Class 'dreadnoughts'? None that I know of.

The drawn-out death of Neelix? Frayed knot.

Jellico? Figures relatively prominently in A Time To Heal and the Destiny trilogy.

Maxwell (the Wounded)? Nothing that focuses on him (unfortunately).

Gul Madred? At first, thought you meant Macet, who figures very prominently in the DS9 relaunch. Madred appears in "Four Lights," a TNG short story in the anthology, The Sky's The Limit (which is a great volume that I highly recommend).

Those clicky subspace aliens that abducted Riker? Nothing yet, though the speculation is that the forthcoming Titan ebook, Absent Enemies, will feature them.

Riker sitting down mounting his chair like a horse? In all seriousness, this definitely gets a mention in "Brave New World," in one of the Myriad Universes anthologies. Don't know anywhere else that it gets mentioned, though it's the sort of thing that would be easy to miss.

How many older novels or episodes have been purposely left out of the new post-Nemesis continuity? No episodes, overtly. (Though "The Host" comes pretty close, and there are several TOS episodes that everyone, novels, TV shows, films, pretty much ignore.) Lots of novels. That's a more complicated question to answer, but basically the powers that be began to care about the present continuity about 13 years ago, when the DS9 relaunch began. Many older novels were retroactively added to the continuity, some religiously than others. The "Shatnerverse" novels, co-authored by the man himself, are decidedly ignored by the current continuity, as are the events of Star Trek: Countdown (though obviously not the 2009 film or its sequel).

Is there any chance of a Trek Lit Technical Manual/Starship Spotter/Companion? I'm sure there's a chance. I wouldn't bet on it though. Possibly a fan-created one, though. There are some folks out there currently at work on TrekLit starship models, including, for example, of the Aventine, featured in Destiny.

 

[Jarvisimo]

The Whale Probe?

Margaret Wander Bonanno's Music of the Spheres was commissioned as a sequel to Star Trek IV, but was cancelled and re-written as Probe.

Barclay?

Barclay appears especially in the Voyager re-relaunch novels, beginning Full Circle.

The Scimitar (or Romulan/Reman ships like it)?

The Scimitar less so. But the Remans, and their ships, are included a few novels set after Nemesis - mainly Titan's Taking Wing and the Presidential-focused Articles of the Federation. There is also a short story about the Remans and Shinzon in the Dominion War, which includes the fighters from the Scimitar, called ''Twilight Wrath''.

The drawn-out death of Neelix?

Neelix is dying? Anycase, he turns up in the Full Circle books mentioned above.

Jellico?

Jellico was initially found in books as a grumpy overseeing character in Peter David's New Frontier series (the first Treklit series, from 1997), but the careerist now-admiral turned up in other books too, eventually finishing his career as CIC of Starfleet, last seen in Star Trek Destiny I think.

Gul Madred?

Gul Madred was included in Andrew Robinson's Garak "autobiography", A Stitch in Time. If you read that, also read its sequel, Una McCormack's The Lotus Flower, and her study of Cardassia, The Never-Ending Sacrifice. Both are also excellent developments of Robinson and TNG-DS9 era Cardassia.

How many older novels or episodes have been purposely left out of the new post-Nemesis continuity?

In general, as I understand it, this depends on the writer and editor. The most common way to understand it is novels are 'purposefully' excluded when they cannot be reconciled with later-produced television and films. However, authors may still alude to such things, such as Peter David in Before Dishonor providing a sequel to his much older novel, Vendetta.

 

[BobtheGunslinge]

Thank you all for the links, and especially for the recommendations and descriptions. I've actually used the Memory Alpha and Beta tag team a lot getting back into Trek Lit, but I find it a bit dry and spoilertastic. It also doesn't tell me whether a story is good or bad or whay I should read/avoid it.

I've read all of the Ex Astris Starship articles and database, but I haven't seen him really describe the active attributes of the more obscure vessels, such as their armaments. He certainly doesn't seem to include Litverse-only ships, like the Aventine. Also, I am asking in the Trek Lit section because I would like to read about them in stories. But only if the stories are likely to be good.

 

[F. King Daniel]

Threshhold and/or the Warp 10 shuttlecraft?

The Lives of Dax anthology has a prequel story.

The Whale Probe

The novel Probe goes into detail about it's origins. The novel had a historically troubled development, to the extent the original author eventually released her version of the book online for free, under the name Music of the Spheres.

Jellico

He's the recurring Admiral in New Frontier.

 

[K. J. McAndrew]

There is, of course, a novel called "Dyson Sphere" which deals with the Dyson Sphere.

Captain Maxwell appears in flashbacks to Setlik III in the novelisation of "Emissary".

 

[Christopher]

Is the nickname "Future Guy" in DTI: Watching the Clock a reference to Firsttvdrama?

I have no idea what that is. "Future Guy" is how the character was referred to in fandom. According to Memory Alpha, it was coined by Chuck Sonnenburg of the SF Debris fansite, and became so popular that the producers themselves began using the nickname in interviews and press releases, though officially the character's name in scripts was "Humanoid Figure."

Will there be any more DTI novels or short stories (besides the first 2 books)? Please?

There are always possibilities...

Threshhold and/or the Warp 10 shuttlecraft?

"Threshold" has been renounced as apocryphal by its own writer. However, its version of transwarp drive was referenced in "Infinity," the Torias Dax story in The Lives of Dax.

Those clicky subspace aliens that abducted Riker?

Not in novels, but they were revisited in issues 77-8 of DC's TNG comic, by Michael Jan Friedman and Gordon Purcell.

V'Ger's non-Borg origins? Check out David Mack's recent book, Star Trek: Cold Equations: The Body Electric.

Which is consistent with/elaborates on the theory of V'Ger's origins I alluded to in TOS: Ex Machina.

 

[Paper Moon]

V'Ger's non-Borg origins? Check out David Mack's recent book, Star Trek: Cold Equations: The Body Electric.

Which is consistent with/elaborates on the theory of V'Ger's origins I alluded to in TOS: Ex Machina.

I very highly recommend both of these books.

 

[BobtheGunslinge]

Ex Machina was already on my list, but now I have even more to add. Thanks!

Would it be reasonable to assume that Probe is not a satisfying read?

 

[Greg Cox]

Gul Madred? At first, thought you meant Macet, who figures very prominently in the DS9 relaunch. Madred appears in "Four Lights," a TNG short story in the anthology, The Sky's The Limit (which is a great volume that I highly recommend).

I can't resist pointing out that The Sky's The Limit also contains a Barclay story, "Thinking of You," by moi. (It also features Lwaxana Troi and Ensign Ro.)

 

[BobtheGunslinge]

Yeah, that one's high on my list. I'm working through the books from the space battles thread right now, but I'll get to all of them eventually. As long as I have Trek models to kitbash and paint, I'll be plowing through the novels to reinforce my interest. And I have a lot of models.

 

[Avro Arrow]

Have any novels dealt (well) with:

Riker sitting down mounting his chair like a horse?

Coming soon from Pocket Books...

 

[Stevil2001]

Ex Machina was already on my list, but now I have even more to add. Thanks!

Would it be reasonable to assume that Probe is not a satisfying read?

Probe is decent, but not great. Ironically, I don't think Music of the Spheres is much better-- it's just different. This is what I wrote when I read both of them back in 2008:

I've read this [Probe] before, but I picked it up because I didn't own it and I hadn't reread it since I'd heard of the infamous "Probe debacle"-- I was interested to see what I'd think, knowing it was actually the work of J. M. Dillard and Gene DeWeese. I enjoyed it. It's a pretty lightweight and inoffensive book, but it's still a pleasant enough read. The origin of the Probe is interesting, though the titular object feels pretty shoehorned into the plot about the death of the Praetor and the resulting Romulan peace conference, which I think could have been interesting enough to sustain a novel on its own. The regulars are pretty much spot on, and most of the additional characters are fine; Commander Hiran is the best of them. Now I'm finally reading Music of the Spheres to compare Bonanno's original book to what we ended up with.

Last month, I read Probe, ostensibly by Bonanno. At the time, I realized that I'd never actually read Music of the Spheres, Bonanno's original manuscript for the book that became Probe after intervention by J. M. Dillard and Gene DeWeese. So, I downloaded the .pdf and began reading it during slow moments at work (i.e., all day). It's a curious experience, reading two versions of essentially the same book. There are things I liked better about Bonanno's version, there are things I liked better about the published version. The character of Rihan/Hiran certainly comes across better as published, and the way that Bonanno ties in her characters from Dwellers in the Crucible is a bit too "small world". (It probably doesn't help that I don't actually like Dwellers all that much.) But Bonanno has a more interesting writing/narrative style (in that she has a style), and her characterizations are a bit stronger. I have to admit, I like a lot of the changes introduced in the edits; if Bonanno had been allowed to implement them herself, I think we would have ended up with one very good book rather than two so-so ones.

There are directions for acquiring Music of the Spheres here: http://www.margaretwanderbonanno.com/bio.htm

 

[Paper Moon]

Ex Machina was already on my list, but now I have even more to add. Thanks!

Would it be reasonable to assume that Probe is not a satisfying read?

I mean, I actually enjoyed it well enough. Not exceedingly memorable, but I think it was pretty satisfying. Worth reading, too, I think, because it's so prominent in the TrekLit community. I think I basically share Steve Mollmann's opinion of the book. I haven't read Music of the Spheres yet.

Gul Madred? At first, thought you meant Macet, who figures very prominently in the DS9 relaunch. Madred appears in "Four Lights," a TNG short story in the anthology, The Sky's The Limit (which is a great volume that I highly recommend).

I can't resist pointing out that The Sky's The Limit also contains a Barclay story, "Thinking of You," by moi. (It also features Lwaxana Troi and Ensign Ro.)

Yeah, The Sky's The Limit is really great. So many wonderful stories and character moments; I really thought that each author really captured the character he/she focused on very well. "Thinking of You" is a great romp; I can't believe no one had before thought of the hilarity that would ensure by pairing Lwaxana with Barclay in a story (with Ro thrown in as the proverbial straightman).

That anthology really captures TNG at its best, in my opinion, so I honestly can't recommend it highly enough.

 

[Greg Cox]

That anthology really captures TNG at its best, in my opinion, so I honestly can't recommend it highly enough.

To give credit where it's due, it was Marco Palmieri, the editor of that anthology, who suggested throwing Barclay and Lwaxana together, and asked me to include Ro as well. Glad you liked the story. I had fun writing it.

 

[JD]

Have Gomtuu and Tam Elbrun ever popped back up anywhere?

 

[KRAD]

Have Gomtuu and Tam Elbrun ever popped back up anywhere?

No. And that has always surprised me........