So What Are you Reading?: Generations

[kirk55555]

I've finished the Cold Equations Trilogy, and it was awesome. I'm reading Allegiance in Exile. Its ok, but its not great. I have a Star Trek question I think fits in here.

Should I read the Eugenics Wars books?

I really like most of the stuff I've read written by Greg Cox (the Q-Continuum trilogy was amazing, some of my favorite Trek books ever) but I HATED Assignment: Eternity. I only made it half way. Its probably at least partially because I have no interest in Gary Seven (his episode in TOS being firmly in the meh category) but its still one of the only ST books I've quit reading halfway. Looking on wikipedia, the Eugenics Wars books are apparently told from the percepctive of gary Seven. Like I said, I'm not a fan of Seven and I couldn't finish Cox's other book with him. But, the concept of the book seems interesting.

I cannot tell a lie. Gary and Roberta are all over my first two Khan books. They do not, however, appear in the third one, which take place during Khan's exile on Ceti Alpha V.

I guess I'll look at the third one, then. I don't know what it is, but I just can't stand Gary Seven.

 

[Lonemagpie]

The Cruel Sea (Nicholas Monserrat) - A classic, though not without its flaws. The first impression, really, is that it's the prototype for Douglas Reeman's entire output - the tone and style are all right there. It conveys the situation of convoy escorts very well, and really engages emotionally... for the most part. It also does my personal bugbear of swapping POVs during paragraphs, but it's done so well that it works. What doesn't work so much is the set of domestic interludes, which is a shame because these interludes are a necessary part of the structure, but basically in the domestics the tone switches from totally believable and written from grim experience to appalling 40s sub-Coward melodrama in which everybody calls each other darling in ludicrous dialogue. Oh well.

It's also interesting to note that it's from that period where swearing is represented by an m-dash followed by "ing" (you can also see this in Dr No, when the fake dragon's crew do it a lot).

Still, worthy and recommended - should be compulsory reading.

 

[ronny]

Is the IDW version available as a graphic novel yet? I keep meaning to pick that up for my Khan collection

Yes, it's out. I've had it for a few months but haven't read it yet myself so can't comment on differences.

 

[Spocky8492]

Maybe "discrepencies" wasn't the correct word. Sorry. English is not my native langage.
What I wanted to know was if each one proposed different versions and I didn't want to say that one was more right than the other, if it's how you understood my question. But you and Greg answered my question. Thanks.
And thanks to you Christopher I also learn that there are a lot of versions of different Star trek events. And I understand your explanation about Trek history and historical fiction.

 

[Snaploud]

I recently finished the second and third volumes of the Years of Lyndon Johnson series by Robert Caro.

 

[Use of Time]

Reading Jean Lorrah's Metamorphosis. Not bad once you get throught the first 100 hundred pages or so.

 

[Reanok]

Metamorphsis gets better after the first 100 pages I recently read it and liked how the story with data ends,I.m reading Startrek TnG Dyson Sphere I like the Horta crew aboard the Darwin exploring the sphere with Picard ,Troi and Geordi.I like the sciene and Archeaolgy in this novel.

 

[John Clark]

I'm currently about half way through Himmler's War by Robert Conroy.

After that, I have (in no particular order):-
Shadow of Freedom - David Weber
SGA - Inheritors - Melissa Scott, Jo Graham & Amy Griswold
Line of Control - Mainak Dhar
ST - Devil's Bargain - Tony Daniel

 

[Defcon]

Started Leverage: The Con Job by Matt Forbeck earlier today.

 

[ryan123450]

Reading NF Excalibur, Book 2. Not too intetested in the Selar/Burgoyne stuff but the Morgan/Robin parts are kinda funny.

 

[Fer]

I finished Star Wars: Scoundrels yesterday. Enjoyable, but not exactly a page turner, which was a first for me for Timothy Zahn. It did have a few great scenes, though.

Today I'll be reading the new 50th anniversary Doctor Who eBook The Nameless City by Michael Scott. After that I'll be jumping in to Timothy Zahn's next Star Wars novel (chronologically), Allegiance.

 

[Reanok]

I started reading Brinkmanship . I finally found this book at Barnes and Noble. I've only read 5 chapters so far but like others have mentioned this book about the Tzenhethi and the Ventahara's are definitely to lying Picard and the other diplomats about theirso called peaceful motives.

 

[kirk55555]

I finished Star Wars: Scoundrels yesterday. Enjoyable, but not exactly a page turner, which was a first for me for Timothy Zahn. It did have a few great scenes, though.

I just finished it today. I'm a HUGE fan of zahn's SW stuff (I really enjoy every SW thing he's written) and I really liked it. Its probably my least favorite of his books, but since his other stuff is so good, thats not an insult.

I've started Star Trek Voyager - The Black Shore. Its an old Voyager novel (in the numbered series, I think its #13). Its early VOY (which isn't surprising or anything, since its an old book and seems to take place probably in season 2) so of course we have Neelix being a s%&thead (I've watched way too many of SFDebris's videos ) references to Janeway's horrible holonovel subplot, and The Doctor not getting the respect he deserves. That said, its not a bad book. Its not its fault its early VOY I like VOY a lot, but the first few seasons were pretty weak. Actually, all the early VOY things actually make it feel a bit...nostalgic? I don't know if thats the right word, but I'm sure I'll enjoy the book.

After that, its on to ST:TNG - Dragon's Honor and To Reign In Hell: The Exile of Khan Noonien Singh (I guess I'm having a mini Greg Cox marathon ) then I'll be rereading star wars - Allegiance and Choices of One.

 

[Greg Cox]

^ Hah! Hope you enjoy your marathon. I actually started writing The Black Shore before the first episode of Voyager even aired. At first, all I had to go on was the original series bible and some articles in Starlog magazine, but most of the book was written while the first season was airing.

And, yeah, that does seem like a long time ago . . . .

Oh, funny true story: I actually came up with the idea for The Black Shore while attending a sales conference at a Florida beach resort. I was sunning myself on the beach, struggling to come up with an idea for this new Star Trek series Pocket had just told me about, when I glanced around at my surroundings: sand, shore, palm trees, etc.

"Hmm. Maybe I can do something with this . . . ."

 

[Thrawn]

It still floors me that so many of the Voyager numbered novels were begun before the show even started airing. There were only 25 or 26 Voyager novels published at all during the run of the series, and more than HALF of them were pitched before a single episode was seen!

 

[Greg Cox]

It still floors me that so many of the Voyager numbered novels were begun before the show even started airing. There were only 25 or 26 Voyager novels published at all during the run of the series, and more than HALF of them were pitched before a single episode was seen!

What can I say? We didn't waste time jumping on the bandwagon!

 

[kirk55555]

^ Hah! Hope you enjoy your marathon. I actually started writing The Black Shore before the first episode of Voyager even aired. At first, all I had to go on was the original series bible and some articles in Starlog magazine, but most of the book was written while the first season was airing.

And, yeah, that does seem like a long time ago . . . .

Oh, funny true story: I actually came up with the idea for The Black Shore while attending a sales conference at a Florida beach resort. I was sunning myself on the beach, struggling to come up with an idea for this new Star Trek series Pocket had just told me about, when I glanced around at my surroundings: sand, shore, palm trees, etc.

"Hmm. Maybe I can do something with this . . . ."

Wow, I didn't know some of the books were written before the series aired. The only reason I thought it might have been placed in season 2 is because in the beginning

Spoiler: The Black Shore

while Harry is being a jerk to the Doctor, Chakotay wonders why he's acting like that, and thinks some comment about them leaving behind anger/homesickness/whatever about their situation years ago (I don't have the book next to me, so I can't look at the exact line) so I assumed since the term "years" was mentioned that it was after season 1. I could have misinterpreted or misread, but thats where my interpretation of when this book took place came from

It actually reads like it would fit in well with the first few seasons of the series, so I guess having the show actually be out really wasn't needed to write a book that feels exactly like the show

 

[Greg Cox]

Well, just to be clear, I was able to watch the first season of the show while I was writing the book. I just had to get started, and write the original outline, before the show debuted.

(Same with my DS9 novel.)

 

[kirk55555]

I get that. Actually, I that part of my post was more to the general idea of books even being in the works before the show was even out. Since The Black Shore is #13, I'm guessing #2-12 (#1 was a novelization of The caretaker, so its a bit different) were also started before the show. I own 1-6, and they range from decent to good, and they all seem to fit the show for the most part. Its just weird thinking of people writing (or starting to write) them before they even got to see the show.

 

[Greg Cox]

The tricky part is that you never know who your favorite characters are going to be until you've actually watched the show for awhile. If I had to do it over again, I would have given the EMH a much bigger part!