Rihannsu Rewrite??

[F. King Daniel]

I read somewhere online that Diane Duane’s Rihannsu books omnibus (Bloodwing Chronicles, I think it was called) was rewritten to fit in with Trek’s twisted, evil, imagination-bereft ‘canon’. Is this true?

If so, what sort of changes were made?

I’ve found modern Trek novels lacking Diane Duane’s great imagination (like her elephant-sized nonhumanoids and their giant starship), and the thought of her work brought down to the level of lesser imaginations is horrible.

While I’m here: Is book 5 any good? Does it wrap things up nicely, or end in another cliffhanger? (no spoilers, please!)

 

[Timo]

Umm, what was changed were a few dates and ranks. Hardly imagination-bereft; indeed, Duane should have done her homework on these details to begin with, as failure to follow canon on such issues is sheer inexcusable incompetence and laziness.

"The Empty Chair" delivers. Perhaps a bit pathetically, but I like pathos on stories that build up to it. Warmly recommended!

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Christopher]

I read somewhere online that Diane Duane’s Rihannsu books omnibus (Bloodwing Chronicles, I think it was called) was rewritten to fit in with Trek’s twisted, evil, imagination-bereft ‘canon’. Is this true?

No, it isn't. The books were written quite a few years apart, and Duane's own assumptions changed in the interim, so they contradicted each other on a few points. The slight revisions that were made were done merely in order to make them consistent with one another. There were also some textual revisions to conform to current editorial standards for capitalization, punctuation, etc.

Duane should have done her homework on these details to begin with, as failure to follow canon on such issues is sheer inexcusable incompetence and laziness.

I trust you're joking. You can't do homework on things that don't exist yet. When Duane's first few novels were written, Trek continuity was still not very well pinned down; there were different schools of thought on how much time elapsed between TOS and TMP. Duane's The Wounded Sky, My Enemy, My Ally, and The Romulan Way were written to take place in a hypothetical second 5-year mission before TMP -- an idea that would've put the interval between TOS & TMP closer to its real-life duration (although it does overlook the repeated TMP references to Kirk's "five years out there," though that's a problematical reference anyway). So the characters still had their TOS ranks, but the ship's design and crew composition were more evocative of TMP. Then Spock's World was set post-TMP.

But quite some time later, when Swordhunt/Honor Blade came out, a lot had changed in the Trek universe, and the idea of a second pre-movie 5-year tour had become unviable. The fix decided on by Duane and her editor (John Ordover, I believe) at the time was to retcon the books to take place before TMP, despite what Spock's World had stated. However, it was another five years and a change of editor before The Empty Chair came out, and by then Duane and her new editor had decided that it made more sense to put the whole series post-TMP, so the earlier Rihannsu books were tweaked to reflect that setting. Characters were given their TMP-era ranks, a couple of date references were modified, and a reference to Chapel studying for her doctorate was cut. (However, The Wounded Sky and Spock's World have not been so revised and still represent the original Duane interpretation of the chronology.)

 

[F. King Daniel]

Thanks!

I honestly don't pay much attention to things like ranks, stardates etc.

I do tend to look up the books on an online timeline before i start reading (so i know which version of the Enterprise and uniforms to picture ;-)

And I did notice a few little oddites in My Enemy (which I've just re-read)- the huge TMP-style Rec Room, then the old uniforms, then refences to TOS events 'several years ago' etc.

 

[Stevil2001]

Duane should have done her homework on these details to begin with, as failure to follow canon on such issues is sheer inexcusable incompetence and laziness.

I trust you're joking.

Christopher, meet Timo. I believe you've both been posting in this forum for over five years; it's probably time you got to know him.

 

[DEWLine]

Personally, I'd assumed from the beginning that the Rihannsu stories fit into the post-TMP Extended Tour. Ditto The Wounded Sky. Seemed the only thing that made sense to me.

 

[Christopher]

^^Yeah, a lot about the books seems to fit post-TMP, but Sulu and Uhura are still lieutenants and Chekov's still an ensign (though I think there were one or two promotions at the end of My Enemy, My Ally).

 

[KRAD]

Actually, Sulu and Uhura were lieutenant commanders and Chekov a lieutenant in My Enemy, My Ally, but they were back to their 5YM ranks in Swordhunt and Honor Blade.

 

[Timo]

Such things are relatively minor compared with the broader plot point of Kirk feeling uneasy with this whole fleet management thing. It's quite possible that he would stick to the Captain rank to which he managed to demote himself in TMP - but it's a bit odd that he would look towards flag duties with dread. What did he do as Chief of Fleet Ops, attend cocktail parties?

Apart from that, it would be greatly preferable for me to have all these events as a relatively tight cluster after TMP, as seems to be the general gist.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Christopher]

Actually, Sulu and Uhura were lieutenant commanders and Chekov a lieutenant in My Enemy, My Ally, but they were back to their 5YM ranks in Swordhunt and Honor Blade.

Actually, Uhura is referred to as a lieutenant several times on p. 147 of the original edition of ME,MA, though she's called a lt. commander on p. 298. Also on p. 298, Sulu is called a lieutenant.

 

[Hartzilla2007]

^^Yeah, a lot about the books seems to fit post-TMP, but Sulu and Uhura are still lieutenants and Chekov's still an ensign (though I think there were one or two promotions at the end of My Enemy, My Ally).

Not to mention that My Enemy, My Ally mentions that the Intrepid is a Vulcan redesign of the Constitution-class that Starfleet is about to use the design in refiting the other Constitutions which souds like the origin of the TMP redesign of the Enterprise.

 

[Timo]

...Which, of course, it was intended to be. But the wording is vague enough that we could now interpret it differently: the Intrepid might have tested engines that were supposed to turn the TMP ship into something even better, but the tests were a disappointment and Kirk's ship never received such a refit.

Other such technology mini-controversies abound. Perhaps the neo-Constellation of ME,MA fame is already the four-nacelled beastie that spearheaded the class of Sempach, Speedwell and ultimately Stargazer? Perhaps All that fuss about Chapel still working on her MD is valid for post-TMP, and in that movie she still was aboard the ship in the role of a nurse, rather than the unvoiced "full MD, original CMO until bumped by McCoy" role.

But treknology is always subject to reinterpretation. Apart from the rank designations, and the odd omission of references to Kirk's Rear Admiral status and his strange deference to the mere Commodore Danilov, much of the material in Bloodwing Voyages is malleable enough to be read as post-TMP. And the rewrite mostly corrects the former but not the latter.

Timo Saloniemi