Serpents Among The Ruins: USS Universe NX-2999?
- Thread starter Dale
- Start date
One thing I morbidly love about Serpents (and something that didn't click with me until about a year after I read it) is the slight 9/11 parallel.
You have some conspiracy folks, like Charlie Sheen, who believe that the destruction of the Twin Towers was a controlled detention and that, essentially, 9/11 was an elaborate ruse by the government. Then, here in Serpents we have the Federation creating this elaborate ruse that is the Tomed Incident (although no Federation citizens were actually killed).
I don't know if this was intentional (somehow I doubt it considering the book was planned/written before the controlled detonation conspiracy theory became popular), but the parallel is there.
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You did fine, JD. No complaints here.
You'll only open a can o' worms if you continue to call me "Mr. George." Please call me David. Otherwise, no complaints here either.
I did indeed intend to explore such issues, fully aware of the contemporary context in which I wrote the novel.
My apologies...I was under the impression you had already finished the book. I'll go back a spoiler code it.
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As a rule, I tend to want to defy reader expectations when writing. That can be tricky, since that can translate for some readers into not satisfying them. But I like the challenge of trying to do both: defying expectations and yet still satisfying readers. I'm glad Serpents worked for you.
BEHOLD!!!
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I'm guessing I shouldn't pursue a graphic design career?
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I'm guessing I shouldn't pursue a graphic design career?
Hi all, apologies in advance for necroposting, (admins please let me know if I should create a new thread or if I'm allowed to continue this one). It's just that I'm in the process of creating a 3d model of this ship and wanted to post some images here and perhaps get some feedback?
I first read 'Serpents among the Ruins' 20 years ago (wow, has it really been that long?) and the description of the USS Universe always intrigued me. I've just reread the book and I still found it really enjoyable and thought that I'd look online to see if anyone had ever realised the design and to my surprise, no one ever has! So I'm going to change that.
I found this thread during my research and saw that the author had posted here and someone had even posted some rough sketches of the design, but this thread is so old now they the images are no longer available.
So forgive me for digging up this old fossil, but stock with me, I'll try and make it worth your while!
I first read 'Serpents among the Ruins' 20 years ago (wow, has it really been that long?) and the description of the USS Universe always intrigued me. I've just reread the book and I still found it really enjoyable and thought that I'd look online to see if anyone had ever realised the design and to my surprise, no one ever has! So I'm going to change that.
I found this thread during my research and saw that the author had posted here and someone had even posted some rough sketches of the design, but this thread is so old now they the images are no longer available.
So forgive me for digging up this old fossil, but stock with me, I'll try and make it worth your while!
Indeed! Hopefully I'll try and change that. Thing about the USS UNIVERSE is that it's actually a very awkward design to try and realise. As a reminder, a quick recap of the design is essentially as follows:
Two flat ovals, arranged along their long axis, on top of each other, with the top oval (primary hull) placed directly onto the Lower oval (secondary hull). The front of the lower connecting with the rear of the upper. Then two thin struts coming out of the lower hull, connecting to two flat nacelles, which flare out from their midpoints aft.From the description, that's gonna be hard to make look good! There's no further description in the book. Certainly no description of the navigational deflector (if it even has one) or any other details. I think I'll have my work cut out for me on this one. However, to put a positive spin on it, the lack of any great detail should actually give me quite a lot of leeway with the design.
Taking that as a loose description, it sounds basically like a Sovereign-class saucer on a Galaxy-class engineering hull. Doesn't seem that awkward.
There's another thread in the board that's specifically for fan-art based on the novels, as well. It's just as well posting here, though, since this is where the description and discussion is.
I checked the Internet Archive, but it doesn't look as if it ever grabbed those three images.
You'd think so, right? But the book describes:
"the primary hull, a narrow ellipse with its major axis running fore and aft, had no rise to it at its center. The secondary hull, another level, narrow ellipse, but smaller, connected to the primary hull directly".
So that means both holes must be level, or flat. No rises at the center. No sticky out bridge... It presents a challenge as most hulls taper up higher as you go towards their centre mass. And of course, it's a well recognised feature to have the protruding bridge. However, I've found a way to add some recognisable details whilst staying within the parameters of the design. I'll show you soon.
Thanks for checking for me. I think what I'll do then is, when I'm ready to post some images, I'll create a new thread on the link you provided then cross reference it with this thread in case anyone wants to fill themselves in on the background info.
Hi @Scifi_Shipyards , and welcome to the board!
I'm not an admin, but I'm the forum mod, so I can probably speak to this.
Generally, the board rule is that one shouldn't post to a thread where the last post in the thread was over a year ago. However, in the TrekLit forum, it was long-ago decided that posting in older threads would be allowed, because people were always discovering/reading older books, and it made sense to have discussion for a given book all in one thread.
So bottom line, no worries at all about posting in this thread, and feel free to share your work either in this one, or in the Picture the Novelverse thread that @David cgc already shared. (But just so you are aware, posting in an old dormant thread in another forum would probably get the thread locked.)
Just so that there are no unrealistic expectations, I should let you know that the author in question stopped posting here in 2011.
Serpents was a great book, IIRC. I need to add it to the list of books I need to reread that I never seem to have time for!
Again, welcome to the board, and looking forward to see what you come up with!
I'm not an admin, but I'm the forum mod, so I can probably speak to this.
Generally, the board rule is that one shouldn't post to a thread where the last post in the thread was over a year ago. However, in the TrekLit forum, it was long-ago decided that posting in older threads would be allowed, because people were always discovering/reading older books, and it made sense to have discussion for a given book all in one thread.So bottom line, no worries at all about posting in this thread, and feel free to share your work either in this one, or in the Picture the Novelverse thread that @David cgc already shared. (But just so you are aware, posting in an old dormant thread in another forum would probably get the thread locked.)
Just so that there are no unrealistic expectations, I should let you know that the author in question stopped posting here in 2011.
Serpents was a great book, IIRC. I need to add it to the list of books I need to reread that I never seem to have time for!
Again, welcome to the board, and looking forward to see what you come up with!
Hi @Scifi_Shipyards , and welcome to the board!
Thanks so much! I really appreciate your input on this.
I'm not an admin, but I'm the forum mod, so I can probably speak to this.
So bottom line, no worries at all about posting in this thread, and feel free to share your work either in this one, or in the Picture the Novelverse thread that @David cgc already shared. (But just so you are aware, posting in an old dormant thread in another forum would probably get the thread locked.)
Just so that there are no unrealistic expectations, I should let you know that the author in question stopped posting here in 2011.
Serpents was a great book, IIRC. I need to add it to the list of books I need to reread that I never seem to have time for!
Again, welcome to the board, and looking forward to see what you come up with!
Ok, so here's what I've come up with so far.
Interesting, but the totally flat saucer is weird. The book says there's no rise in the center, but does it rule out a convex underside? I think it would look better with one, suggesting a shallow bowl or a boat in profile.
Alternatively, you could take "no rise in the center" to mean no distinct saucer module, just a gently convex upper hull with a recessed bridge. I think the use of the word "center" implies that. And making it totally flat just doesn't look good in profile, though it was clever of you to add some visual interest from other angles by making it concave instead.
Alternatively, you could take "no rise in the center" to mean no distinct saucer module, just a gently convex upper hull with a recessed bridge. I think the use of the word "center" implies that. And making it totally flat just doesn't look good in profile, though it was clever of you to add some visual interest from other angles by making it concave instead.