So What Are you Reading?: Generations

[Damian]

Just finished up with the latest Discovery novel so I'm all caught up again with the current novels. I decided to grab another book from my unread pile from back in the 90's when I was in college and I grabbed TNG novel "The Death of Princes" by John Peel (#44).

It's amazing to think that at that time in litverse history there were at least 2 books every month (looking at the 1997 checklist on the inside covers some months even had 3 novels if there was a special release). How on Earth did people ever keep up back then? 24+ novels a year

And of course that exacerbated by backlog as I read maybe 2 Star Trek books my entire 4 years in college and that was when they were maxing out the releases. Though I'm down to maybe 10 or 15 unread books now from that period.

 

[JD]

I read "Or The Tiger" by Geoffrey Thorne, one of the short stories in STVOY: Distant Shores. It was pretty good, the stuff with alien ship was pretty cool, although B'Elanna seemed a bit more hostile than I would have expected with the story taking place in late Season 6.

 

[John Clark]

I've been giving Relativity: Lost and Found by Michelle and James Lehmann a go.

 

[Reanok]

I just finished reading 2 mystery novels Old bones and missing books by Paige Shelton and Steamed open by Barbara Ross.

 

[Kertrats47]

Just posted my review of TNG: A Time to Kill by David Mack. Still blown away that this was his first novel-length story. Great stuff.

Also finished reading TNG: Triangle: Imzadi II by Peter David today.

 

[KRAD]

^ Technically, it was his second, as Wildfire Books 1-2 in the Starfleet Corps of Engineers series was novel-length (about 52,000 words).

Also pretty sure Dave didn't write Triangle: Imzadi II.

 

[Daddy Todd]

It's amazing to think that at that time in litverse history there were at least 2 books every month (looking at the 1997 checklist on the inside covers some months even had 3 novels if there was a special release). How on Earth did people ever keep up back then? 24+ novels a year
.

Nobody did, did they?

I’ll read them after I retire...

 

[Kertrats47]

^ Also pretty sure Dave didn't write Triangle: Imzadi II.

Gah! Apparently I was tired yesterday!

 

[John Clark]

Started on Seafighter by James H Cobb. I've read it before, but I enjoy the series, so

 

[marlboro]

Just posted my review of TNG: A Time to Kill by David Mack. Still blown away that this was his first novel-length story. Great stuff.

Yeah, this was a very good duology. I would love to read an "Articles of the Federation" style story about Zife and Azernal. Very interesting characters. While watching their plans unravel I can't help but think of In The Pale Moonlight and wonder how that story would have unfolded if Sisko's plan hadn't worked out so well.

My only nitpick about the book is that I don't understand why the Federation stuck to the Khitomer Accords after the Klingons had withdrawn from it and became hostile. Maybe that was something covered on DS9.

 

[Kertrats47]

My only nitpick about the book is that I don't understand why the Federation stuck to the Khitomer Accords after the Klingons had withdrawn from it and became hostile. Maybe that was something covered on DS9.

In the DS9 episode "By Inferno's Light," Chancellor Gowron re-signed the Khitomer Accords on behalf of the Klingon Empire. Since this was before the Dominion War, presumably the accords were in full force when the weapons were placed on Tezwa.

 

[marlboro]

Ah, I see. It's been a long time since I've watched DS9. I've been holding out for a BR release.

 

[USS Firefly]

Ah, I see. It's been a long time since I've watched DS9. I've been holding out for a BR release.

I am afraid that jou have to wait a long time for the BR release

 

[JD]

Isn't that most likely a never, rather than just a long time, at this point?

 

[marlboro]

Coincidentally, "never" is the same point in time when I will pay to watch standard definition DS9.

Back on topic: Picked up a pb copy of The Romulan Prize. I can't remember if I've read this one before. The author, Simon Hawke wrote three Trek books: this one, Blaze of Glory, and The Patrian Transgression. I liked TPP but wasn't crazy about Blaze, so this one will be the tie-breaker, I guess.

Edited to clarify: I won't buy new sd DS9. I'll pick up a used set someday. Maybe.

 

[JD]

I'm to big of a DS9 ( and VOY) fan to wait for them to never be upgraded to HD. HD is nice when it's available, but I'm not going to pass up on watching something just because it isn't in HD.

 

[marlboro]

The Romulan Prize

Turns out, I have read this before. Or at least part of it. I'm not going to finish it this time either. Lots of problems. A sampling :

- Apparently, "Simon Hawke" is the nom de plume of Billy Barty because he describes Picard as "tall." Sometimes I think some of the writers of the old books knew next to nothing about the shows. Stuff like this is the reason why.

- A very lengthy and completely pointless recapping of The Measure of a Man. It was totally shoehorned in too. Chapter begins with "Data beams in" and then immediately goes into an insanely long recapitulation of an episode that has nothing to do with this book.

I have grown to really hate recapping.

- The Romulan commanders plan is bold to the point of being reckless. "Reckless" is being pretty charitable. "Stupid" is much closer to the truth. His ruse works though because, as anyone who watches TNG can attest, Picard is both foolish and loves to preemptively disregard orders from his superiors.

And all is within the first three chapters.


A coincidence: The Romulans have a ship named the Syrinx in this book. It shares a name with two ships in two of David Mack's novels, A Time to Heal and Disavowed.



Up next: Trent's Last Case

 

[Reanok]

The Gun also rises by Sheila harris.

 

[marlboro]

S.C.E. Turn the Page

Two storylines here, and they're both good. Impressive considering the size limits of the format. Ward and Dilmore always seem to bring their A game for s.c.e. books. The first one involves the newest member of the crew, Dr. Sarjenka, and features some nice worldbuilding concerning a society that uses technology to force their criminal class into slave labor. The second story is a flashback about Gold and a mission that he undertook while serving under Mark Jameson.

I think there is some storytelling potential with Gold's history with Gus Bradford and Jameson. I would love to see a story set aboard the USS Gettysburg.


S.C.E. Signs from Heaven

Another good one. This is a sequel to TOS's The Cloud Minders. Some nice worldbuilding and a rare opportunity for Stevens to get the spotlight.


S.C.E. Ghost

The quality of this story is inversely proportional to the quality of its cover. The artist does a nice looking Corsi and a great looking Abramowitz, but Lense always turns out looking like Bilbo Baggins from the old Rankin & Bass cartoon. The book itself is very good, however. It's a medical murder mystery and the author/character combo is perfect for this story.

This is a story begging for a follow-up, but, alas, it will probably never be.

 

[Lonemagpie]

JAMES BOND- SERPENT'S TOOTH by Paul Gulacy and Doug Moench.

Hoo boy. I vaguely remembered enjoying this when it came out in 1995. Of course I always liked the Gulacy/Moench graphic novels team, so there's that, and the artwork is good (Bond rather oddly looksa fair bit like Henry Cavill for most of it!), and the pacing is fast, there's plenty of action, and so on...

If this was a more, well, comics-based graphic novel – by which I mean if it was about Nick Fury or something, or even an original character – it would be great. Unfortunately it's supposed to be James Bond. Now, there are two types of Bond to enjoy- the movie Bond, and the books Bond. This clearly sets out to be the movie Bond – there's a pre-credit, and a title splash page reminiscent of the movies' title sequences. Beyond that, however... it makes the daftest bits of Moonraker look like The Third Man. It makes Austin fucking Powers look like The Third Man.

Starting off with a girl fleeing from el chpacrabra and being abducted by a flying saucer, it proceeds to get silly thereafter, bringing in not just traditional Bond movie tropes like “steal nuclear weapons and reshape the world” but genetic mutations, giant octopi, and Bond Vs Dinosaurs in a mobile underwater city.

The plot makes zero sense (even by Bond movie standards), and it doesn't help that this Bond is congenitally incapable of speaking a line that isn't a creaky failure of an attempted pun. It's what the phrase “comic book” was pretty much invented for, but in this case, even though it is a comic book, it's the wrong approach, and to a horrific degree.

This feels like a comic book Bond created by someone who's had The Spy Who Loved Me and Moonraker described to him by someone who has only read an online review of the movies. While drunk and/or stoned.

But if you tippex out all uses of the name “James Bond” and write in something more appropriate like “Clint Thrust” it makes a decent pre-Powers OTT pastiche with plenty of action.