So What Are you Reading?: Generations

[indianatrekker26]

I think I remember reading part of it was to reflect Siddig's then current appearance. I think they liked the idea of giving Bashir a beard too. In Control he looked a lot older (considering the time frame was only a few years later) but I think the idea was to project the great deal of stress he was under by that point.

But I do like that the novels for the last decade or so have tried to be more accurate with their covers, including adding a bit of age to the characters from the last time we saw them.

Back in the 80's and 90's the novel covers were often inaccurate. In The Better Man there's a note telling you when it takes place. But a lot of the novels back then didn't have that, and you couldn't go by the cover so a lot of times you were left trying to guess whether it was during the tv series or the movie time frame. The narrative sometimes clued you in, but not always.

About the only way in some of the older TOS novels i could place it, was by what rank Chekov is in the book. He was an ensign through all 3 seasons of the TV series.

 

[Damian]

The best indicator was usually the ranks of Sulu, Uhura, and Chekov.

Yeah, that usually helped. But there a few cases even then where I was like hmm. This felt more like an TV series story, yet they have movie ranks (or vice versa).

But then I remember from another discussion that some of the earlier novels went with the idea of an extended 5 year mission after the TV series but before the refit--most of which have since been retconned to after TMP--though that occasionally leads to a few inconsistencies. But at the time I read them years ago, before we had the ability to go online and check, I did find it confusing while reading them, and the covers didn't help. You'd see a cover of the crew and ship post TMP yet the story was clearly during the TV series. Or worse. You'd see a refit Enterprise with the crew as they appeared in the TV series. I'd really be like WTF then.

 

[Christopher]

About the only way in some of the older TOS novels i could place it, was by what rank Chekov is in the book. He was an ensign through all 3 seasons of the TV series.

Not quite, because Chekov wasn't introduced until season 2.

Yeah, that usually helped. But there a few cases even then where I was like hmm. This felt more like an TV series story, yet they have movie ranks (or vice versa).

Yeah, unfortunately, a number of writers just made token changes to fit the movie era and didn't really address the major changes like Spock's emotional maturation or Chekov's move to security.

But then I remember from another discussion that some of the earlier novels went with the idea of an extended 5 year mission after the TV series but before the refit--most of which have since been retconned to after TMP--though that occasionally leads to a few inconsistencies. But at the time I read them years ago, before we had the ability to go online and check, I did find it confusing while reading them, and the covers didn't help. You'd see a cover of the crew and ship post TMP yet the story was clearly during the TV series. Or worse. You'd see a refit Enterprise with the crew as they appeared in the TV series. I'd really be like WTF then.

There's no correlation at all between the "extended mission" novels and the ambiguous covers. The covers were just the result of the artists using an inconsistent mix of available reference images, rather than being based on anything within the books. The main "extended mission" books I can think of are Corona, which has a pure TMP-based cover, and The Wounded Sky, My Enemy, My Ally, and Memory Prime, which have pure TOS-style covers. The covers mixing TOS and movie-era images include Triangle, set explicitly post-TMP, and Uhura's Song, Chain of Attack, and Dreams of the Raven, which are all just normal 5-year mission books.

 

[Damian]

There's no correlation at all between the "extended mission" novels and the ambiguous covers. The covers were just the result of the artists using an inconsistent mix of available reference images, rather than being based on anything within the books. The main "extended mission" books I can think of are Corona, which has a pure TMP-based cover, and The Wounded Sky, My Enemy, My Ally, and Memory Prime, which have pure TOS-style covers. The covers mixing TOS and movie-era images include Triangle, set explicitly post-TMP, and Uhura's Song, Chain of Attack, and Dreams of the Raven, which are all just normal 5-year mission books.

Right. I didn't mean to suggest the two were necessarily related. It was just you couldn't use the cover as a clue to when the story took place. A lot of the covers were well done from an artistic standpoint, even if they weren't always accurate.

 

[Kertrats47]

Just finished reading the English translation Prometheus: The Root of All Rage. Looking forward to discussing it on Literary Treks next week!

I also posted my review of Q-Squared by Peter David, a long-time favourite of mine.

The most recent episode of Literary Treks is #231: Dancing to the Strains of Cadillac Ranch, in which we talked about TNG: A Time to Die by John Vornholt.

And finally, I've just started Discovery: Fear Itself by James Swallow. Enjoying it a ton, finding it hard to put down!

 

[John Clark]

Korea Strait by David Poyer.

 

[hbquikcomjamesl]

Less than a week ago, I finished Architects of Infinity. I've made no secret of my displeasure at the "Chekhov's Gun Unrealized" aspects of bringing in Lucsly at the beginning, and then not actually doing anything with him. As to the ending, I think I've finally managed to articulate my reaction: Bob Newhart had a very short stand-up bit that riffed on the old "Infinite Number of Monkeys" trope. And the ending of Architects reminds me of the punchline of that bit: "To be, or not to be. That is the gezornenblatt."

Then, I read L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time. Absolutely magnificent, and all the more so because it was written as a children's book.

I'm currently a third of the way into Dayton Ward's Drastic Measures, and I'm impressed, so far.

And while reading that, I took time out to read Jen Wang's graphic novel, The Prince and the Dressmaker. Several pages (and a browsing copy of the book) were on exhibit at the Cartoon Art Museum of San Francisco (finally reopened, after a protracted move from SoMa to the Wharf). Funky concept, and definitely not a drag (pun intended).

 

[John Clark]

Made a start on Steel Wind by Jeff Edwards this morning.

 

[Christopher]

Less than a week ago, I finished Architects of Infinity. I've made no secret of my displeasure at the "Chekhov's Gun Unrealized" aspects of bringing in Lucsly at the beginning, and then not actually doing anything with him.

Why does that seem strange to you? Kirsten's Voyager novels have always been strongly serialized. There have been plenty of elements that Kirsten introduced in one book and didn't pay off until one or two books later, if not longer.

 

[USS Firefly]

I prefer serialized books

 

[JD]

After finished up Marvel's Han Solo comic miniseries, I read the first issue of Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo's New 52 Batman run. I really enjoyed it, it was pretty clearly a first issue, with it being pretty much all set up. It was well written, interesting set up, so I didn't mind. There was definitely a hell of a surprise at the end, but I have pretty good feeling it'll end up having a logical explanation.
After that I decided I was in a Star Trek mood, so I read the third issue of Marvel's DS9 series from the '90s, which I had pulled off the DVD and put on my tablet. I read pretty a lot of rest of the series back when they first coming out, but I ended up missing 3 & 4, and while I did get 5 I never read it since it continued 3 & 4's arc. It was pretty good, I liked the story and art, but some of the dialogue was a little off.

 

[hbquikcomjamesl]

Why does that seem strange to you? Kirsten's Voyager novels have always been strongly serialized. There have been plenty of elements that Kirsten introduced in one book and didn't pay off until one or two books later, if not longer.

I don't recall KMFB ever doing quite so blatant a "Chekhov's Gun Unrealized." And given that there may be some delay in the next book, it's rather annoying. But that's only a minor annoiance, especially compared to the ending, that's Bob Newhart's "gezornenblatt" (or maybe the classic shaggy-dog punchline "and then his ass fell off") on steroids.

 

[JD]

I'm almost done with the Neverending Story, and I'm in the mood for more Trek, alongside the Prey trilogy, so I'm about to jump back into the Voyager anniversary anthology, Distant Shores. I actually read the first couple stories back in 2014 and set it aside and forgot about it, so I'm going to start with the third story Winds of Change by Kim Sheard.
I thought about going back to the NF anthology, No Limits, but I've been a Voyager rewatch on Netflix so that got me in the mood for more TV era Voy. It's been ages since I read the other NF books, so I just wasn't that interested in NL.

 

[Christopher]

I'm almost done with the Neverending Story

I...
...
Never mind. It's too easy.

 

[JD]

I just remember something I've been meaning to ask.
I've got both Rihannsu: The Bloodwing Voyages (the omnibus of the first 4 books) and The Empty Throne, and I was wondering, should I reread Spock's World before I read them? It's been years since I read it and I really have no memory of it.

 

[Christopher]

I've got both Rihannsu: The Bloodwing Voyages (the omnibus of the first 4 books) and The Empty Throne, and I was wondering, should I reread Spock's World before I read them? It's been years since I read it and I really have no memory of it.

You should ideally read it, yes, but it goes between The Romulan Way and Swordhunt. Also The Wounded Sky is first in the series and introduces many of the characters who come into play in the later books.

 

[indianatrekker26]

I'm going back to DS9: Avatar by SD Perry. I'm gonna read all the post tv stuff going forward from Avatar. That will keep me busy for a while.

 

[Nyotarules]

TNG Orion's hounds

(I am having fun with the relaunch novels in the TNG & DS9 universe)

 

[JD]

You should ideally read it, yes, but it goes between The Romulan Way and Swordhunt. Also The Wounded Sky is first in the series and introduces many of the characters who come into play in the later books.

I have The Wounded Sky too, so I'll start there, then reread Spock's World, and then move on to the Rihannsu books.

 

[Christopher]

I have The Wounded Sky too, so I'll start there, then reread Spock's World, and then move on to the Rihannsu books.

As I said, Spock's World should be read after The Romulan Way.