Recommend TOS Books?
- Thread starter tranya
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What are the dimensions of the hardcover edition? I'm trying to figure out where it could go on my bookshelves. As long as its height is less than 9 and 3/8 inches, I can manage.
In the case of a DRGIII omnibus, surely this is a classic case of "feel the width"? I'm more concerned whether a three foot wide bookcase will be wide enough to fit the book, or I'll have to buy two copies and chainsaw them down the middle to get one half on a shelf each!
Ooh.
Me likes omnibus editions of trilogies... (especially when local shops tend to just have, like, Books 2 and 3, and never get book 1 of anything!)
Buy it anyway! It's the book Harlan Ellison doesn't want you to own!
A new 20000-words story - or will those 20000 words be additions to the existing stories, meaning to get to the new material I have to reread all 3 stories? (just weighing the pros and cons to buying the hc as well...
Neither. It's a number of interstitial elements, primarily in the form of a short story following each novel, an overall prologue and epilogue, plus a new author's preface.
Here's the table of contents fir Crucible hardcover:
- Preface: Talismans and Spells
- Prologue: The Potentials of Emptiness
- Provenance of Shadows
- “The Delicate Currents of the Past”
- The Fire and the Rose
- “The Weight of Too Few Years”
- The Star To Every Wandering
- “Into the Void”
- Epilogue: Confluence, Enduring
6"x9"
A new 20000-words story - or will those 20000 words be additions to the existing stories, meaning to get to the new material I have to reread all 3 stories? (just weighing the pros and cons to buying the hc as well...
Neither. It's a number of interstitial elements, primarily in the form of a short story following each novel, an overall prologue and epilogue, plus a new author's preface.
Thank you.
You're really making it difficult abstaining from hcs...
Y'know, one of these days, DRG3 is gonna title something "When Titans Clash!" just to mess with us.......
^ I daresay the author of Star Trek: The Next GeneratIon: Slings and Arrows, Book Six: Enterprises of Great Pitch and Moment and I Have Touched the Sky is in an awkward position to crack wise about another author's titles.
IIRC, The Rift was the first TOS novel I read, when it came out, and it got me hooked on Peter David. Also, I always have to push Dwellers in the Crucible when anyone asks; it's pretty unique and only peripherally involves the Enterprise crew. Another one that's a lot of fun and which I never see anyone mention is Ishmael by Barbara Hambley, for anyone who enjoys a good time travel yarn.
I used to love Peter David's TNG novels -- haven't read any of his TOS novels yet. I remember trying to read Dwellers in the Crucible when I was a kid, but never making it very far, and I loved Ishmael when I was a kid.
I think I remember catching one of the Doctor Who references in Ishmael when I was a youngin', but had no clue about all the other TV references. I should reread that one.
I think I remember catching one of the Doctor Who references in Ishmael when I was a youngin', but had no clue about all the other TV references. I should reread that one.
I don't think Peter David has done tons of TOS novels, but regardless, as a teenager I couldn't get enough of him. Something like 20 times per book, I'd be like "no way, he didn't just do that!!"
Dwellers is certainly bizarre, but that whole era of Trek lit had a real experimental element to it that I loved, whether it be Diane Duane's Rihannsu history, the first-person storytelling in the excellent Dreadnought! and its sequel, the framing of Final Reflection and even, like it or not, a musical in How Much for Just the Planet? I sort of think of it as a golden age (and fortunately, that level of care and attention seems to have returned with the current awesome generation of Trek authors)... Anyway, jeez this thread is making me want to go back and read a bunch of those old ones.
Dwellers is certainly bizarre, but that whole era of Trek lit had a real experimental element to it that I loved, whether it be Diane Duane's Rihannsu history, the first-person storytelling in the excellent Dreadnought! and its sequel, the framing of Final Reflection and even, like it or not, a musical in How Much for Just the Planet? I sort of think of it as a golden age (and fortunately, that level of care and attention seems to have returned with the current awesome generation of Trek authors)... Anyway, jeez this thread is making me want to go back and read a bunch of those old ones.
I think it was the fact that they weren't hamstrung by canon. Now, I like and respect canon, and I think the current "Expanded Universe"-like idea is interesting...but I'm also glad to have all the other competing visions of the Trekiverse as well.
Yeah, all they had from 79-86 was....ST TMP through III and the original show and that's it.
And certainly in the early 80's, I doubt there was ever really any sense there'd be any continuation of the story beyond what THEY were writing. What they wrote...well...that was it! So Star Trek novels took on every style that could be thought of...it was truly a great time to get Trek books!
And certainly in the early 80's, I doubt there was ever really any sense there'd be any continuation of the story beyond what THEY were writing. What they wrote...well...that was it! So Star Trek novels took on every style that could be thought of...it was truly a great time to get Trek books!
I also assume that since a number of the early Trek novels were by former fanfic writers or professional SF writers who decided to "slum" as Trek writers, we got a lot more variety in the storytelling. The canon argument is a good one, though -- no one would write a story set 30 years before TOS without a passing mention of Enterprise characters now (no, not even Orci & Kurtzman), and while that's fun for fans of all forms of Trek, I have to wonder how much that's hamstrung the "casual writer."
I know nothing about process or the realities of this publishing industry. I have no idea if there's even such a thing as a "casual writer" of Trek (I'm thinking like Greg Bear's brief dip into Trek with Corona), either.
I know nothing about process or the realities of this publishing industry. I have no idea if there's even such a thing as a "casual writer" of Trek (I'm thinking like Greg Bear's brief dip into Trek with Corona), either.
Yeah, those are definitely good points about the lack of established canon that needed to be adhered to, I hadn't thought of that. Haha, I'm sure nobody in 1984 would have believed the course Star Trek would end up taking on the screen. Deep Space Nine et al were just one of many... one might even say myriad possibilities.
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