Kilana 2 Some of The Enterprise books the last few years have really good stories written by Christopher Bennett. You might like them the first rise of the federation novel. It has Tobin Dax in it and he gets a lot to do in the book as an engineer he's serving Aboard Malcolm Reed's starship as his chief engineer. It's the Enterprise novel with Admiral Archer on the cover.
So What Are you Reading?: Generations
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I´m a Dax fan and it sounds interesting. I gather that no in-depth knowledge of other ENT novels is necessary?
My favorite Christopher novel up to now is DTI - Watching the Clock.
I will keep your recommendation in mind.
But why would I want to miss the Romulan war novels?
I'm finishing up Ent: The Good That Men Do (first one after the tv series). That one could be skipped, I think.
Really, the first four post-finale ENT novels all form a single narrative about the Romulan War. Even though only the last two have "The Romulan War" in the title, the first overt strike of the war happens in TGTMD.
I am reading Star Trek #63 Sanctuary by John Vornholt from the early 1990's,
as well as "Star Trek: Chaotic Response" from the Celebration 40 years of Star Trek Constillations short story anthology that came out in late summer of 2006.
And I am also reading the current DC comic series Detective Comics, Batman, Grayson, and Batman and Robin.
as well as "Star Trek: Chaotic Response" from the Celebration 40 years of Star Trek Constillations short story anthology that came out in late summer of 2006.
And I am also reading the current DC comic series Detective Comics, Batman, Grayson, and Batman and Robin.
Yep, I just read it. What I liked least about the book was that they reiterated that "Terra prime terrorists are bad". It reminded me that in the series they treated the pro/anti-alien discussion so one-sidedly. What I liked most was the parts about Trip & T'Pal's private lives.
Congratulations with your new book!
Umm... it's bigotry. Would you want to see a "two-sided" discussion of Nazism or the Ku Klux Klan? Not every issue has two valid sides. Some things are just wrong.
I support that very much. But not in this instance. It's bigotry if you're talking about aliens that are extremely similar to humans. But it's not bigotry if you consider aliens that have bad or rather alien values or nature (Orions, Vosk/Na'kuhl, 23rd C. Klingons), or the fact that aliens just killed a lot of humans. Distrusting aliens is a perfectly valid opinion.
When it comes to the real world: yes I want to see a two sided discussion of Nazism and the KKK, that doesn't automatically mean that arguments of the two sides are equally persuasive.
In the Enterprise episodes concerning Terra Prime, the opponents of aliens were only portrayed as being terrorists or sympathizers. It's too simplified.
No, it's still entirely racist. Not all aliens were responsible for the Xindi attack on Earth, just the Sphere-Builders and the Xindi they tricked into it. It is completely wrong and bigoted to blame everyone who's different from you just because one group of people who are different from you did something bad. In the days after September 11, 2001, there were some acts of horrific, inexcusable racism, like a case where a Sikh-American gas station owner was murdered just because he wore a turban and had dark skin, even though Sikhs are a completely different religion from Islam, and even though the vast majority of Muslims condemned the attacks (and hundreds of innocent Muslims were in the towers and died in the attacks). There is absolutely no defense for condemning all foreigners for the actions of a specific few. That is hate and cowardice and evil of the highest order. It's using others' destructiveness as an excuse to indulge your own, or to exploit people's fear as a way to manipulate them into giving you power.
No, it was just simple, because there is simply no excuse for damning everyone who's different as if they were all alike. It is stupid and lazy and insanely wrong to look at all the aliens in the universe, who come from countless different worlds with countless different cultures and value systems, and assume they can be lumped under a single word, "aliens," and treated as if they were all the same. The very essence of the concept of "aliens" -- everyone who isn't us -- makes it a category of immeasurable breadth and inclusiveness. The only broader category is "everyone." So anyone who defines themselves as "the opponents of aliens" is either a bigot or an idiot, or both, because there is no legitimate way to define "aliens" as a single category.
And who defines what values are "human?" Human values encompass everything from Gandhi to Hitler. It makes no more sense to treat humans as uniform than it does to treat aliens that way.
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Any form of intolerance is inexcusable, regardless of how similar a particular race is to humans. That you apparently believe discriminatory behavior toward anyone who merely doesn't look human is acceptable is proof in and of itself.
--Sran
I'm reading Lee Child's A Wanted Man. It's ok, not brilliant though.
So you're saying that it looks like a duck and sounds like a duck, but if fact, it's an elephant then.
So you're saying that it looks like a duck and sounds like a duck, but if fact, it's an elephant then.
Christopher said:
I agree that normal foreigners shouldn't be attacked or hated for what terrorists do. But I take issue with those ENT episodes: Whereas the real world has plenty of peaceful opponents, those episodes only portrayed terrorists and their sympathisers.
Christopher said:
I don't know about the novels, but from the series we will never know anything about peaceful dissenters on earth. If they have (misdirected) feelings of hate, anger and are wary of all aliens then that's not only understandable but probably also a normal response to the violence in the galaxy. I imagine their intentions were not racist treatment, not petty hate out cowardice etc., rather the tendencies of those opponents would be a healthy dose of Earth-nationalism and prudent caution with aliens.
Also, without wanting to get into a discussion, I'd like to say that I believe that speciesism should be applied to aliens. It would be wonderful if one could establish a relationship of equality and/or respect with as many species as possible, meaning that sometimes it's not possible or desired. E.g the Borg.
^Being wary of all aliens is racist, full stop. I've explained how nonsensical it is to think of "aliens" as a uniform group instead of countless separate groups. So even the "peaceful dissenters" are still xenophobes and fools, giving in to mindless hate, fear, and ignorance.
And let me remind you that ENT did show us people like that in "Home," in the bar scene with Phlox. The bar patrons there weren't terrorists, just ordinary people who were irrationally afraid of all aliens in the wake of the Xindi attack. Sure, it's "understandable," but it's still entirely, indisputably wrong.
And let me remind you that ENT did show us people like that in "Home," in the bar scene with Phlox. The bar patrons there weren't terrorists, just ordinary people who were irrationally afraid of all aliens in the wake of the Xindi attack. Sure, it's "understandable," but it's still entirely, indisputably wrong.
Just posted my review of the second book in the Slings and Arrows series, The Oppressor's Wrong by Phaedra M. Weldon.
Currently reading book 3, The Insolence of Office by William Leisner.
Currently reading book 3, The Insolence of Office by William Leisner.
Came across this review earlier today when I linked through a litverse timeline, the author of which is definitely on here. (Yolasite). Interesting website you have, but I was forced to skim due to my fear of major spoilers.
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