So What Are you Reading?: Generations
- Thread starter captcalhoun
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I'm now just shy of the 3/4 point. McCoy (stuck in the past, in a divergent timeline) has realized that saving Edith was what caused all Hell to eventually break loose, while McCoy (post-TMP) has hooked back up with Tonia Barrows, who just popped the question to him. And I think he's discovered the particle that would be called the "chroniton," although what that has to do with elevated "M'Benga numbers" in individuals infected with Blastoneuron portolanii, I don't know.
*****
Now, I've passed the point where the "Nazi Timeline" McCoy dies, and the point where the prime McCoy is given access to the memories of his alternate self.
Still no idea how (or if) chronitons and chronometric particles ever tie back to B. portolanii infection.
*****
I've moved on to Crucible: The Fire and the Rose. Seems a bit faster-moving. I'm now on Page 77.
Spock "gives mind" on the first date?!?!?
*****
Now, I've passed the point where the "Nazi Timeline" McCoy dies, and the point where the prime McCoy is given access to the memories of his alternate self.
Still no idea how (or if) chronitons and chronometric particles ever tie back to B. portolanii infection.
*****
I've moved on to Crucible: The Fire and the Rose. Seems a bit faster-moving. I'm now on Page 77.
Spock "gives mind" on the first date?!?!?
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Am I the only one reading? I made it through Crucible: The Fire and the Rose last night, and now, I'm already a third of the way into the final Crucible novel.
No, but it's slow going on my end.
Blastoneuron portolanii infection as a cause of high "M'Benga Numbers," still hasn't resurfaced. Wondering if B. portolanii is going to end up as a "Chekhov's Pathogen Averted."
Hmm. Wrong thread, but did anybody else follow up on Operation: Annihilate, and publish anything (other than the Starfleet Medical Reference article, which only gives the genus) about B. portolanii?
Hmm. Wrong thread, but did anybody else follow up on Operation: Annihilate, and publish anything (other than the Starfleet Medical Reference article, which only gives the genus) about B. portolanii?
Finished reading this one last night: Manga in Libraries: A Guide for Teen Librarians by Jillian Rudes (ALA Editions, 2023). This one checks off dual boxes, both “work related” and “personal interest”.
A nice brief overview—only 136 pages, and I didn’t even read the two appendices in the back, the longer of which is a guide to conducting webinars on manga in libraries, the shorter being additional manga book lists—of the Japanese form of graphic literature (or comics) called “manga” (pronounced as mahn-gah, not main-gah, although I must admit I still have trouble with that sometimes) specifically in relation to its place in library collections and library programming.
Me giving the table of contents chapter names is probably the best way of summarizing it: Chapter 1 “Manga 101”, Chapter 2 “Manga Collection Development”, Chapter 3 “Representation in Manga”, Chapter 4 “Social-Emotional Learning and Manga”, Chapter 5 “Manga Programming”, Chapter 6 “Teaching With Manga”, and the two aforementioned Appendices (both under the heading, “Manga Sparks Joy”), “Manga in Libraries Webinars” and “Manga Book Lists”.
As a high school media specialist who is also a life long comic book reader, I have put a lot of emphasis on building and maintaining a large comics/graphic novels and manga section ever since I started at my current school twelve years ago. My background is in the American comic books (superheroes, media tie-ins like Star Wars and Star Trek comics, and general fiction and nonfiction graphic novels). My personal knowledge and experience with manga was (and still is) virtually nil. However, it was immediately apparent that the manga volumes already in the library collection when I arrived were pretty much the most popular books in the place. Some kids would come in multiple times in the same day to swap them out.
Not being knowledgeable of that various titles beyond what we already had (and cognizant that there are manga titles for all ages, including ones for adults that are not appropriate for a public high school library media center; one of the things this book goes into are manga publisher generated suggested audience age and content ratings and where to find those), I have generally taken a pretty conservative approach by mostly just replacing lost copies and buying the next newer volumes of the titles we already have. Occasionally I would order one or two volumes of a title we didn’t already have upon requests from students.
However, beyond the really good explanations given in Manga in Libraries of *why* so many young people enjoy reading manga (especially young girls but boys too), how manga characters are written and drawn so that boys and girls can empathize with those characters, their emotions, situations, etc., the next most valuable thing to me is its section on the very wide range of fictional genres available in manga, including samples of each. This is something that I will definitely look into doing better with resources like this, to try to diversify my school library media center’s manga collection to be more than the mostly boys and girls fantasy warrior/superhero type of stories that currently make up the bulk of what we have.
There are chapters that give detailed descriptions of manga programming the author has done with the students at her school, including manga related clubs, classes, volunteers/assistants groups, and even how to put on a manga comics convention. (Her school is in or nearby New York City so she also has field trip suggestions but obviously not all of those would be available or practical in all locations.)
She also spends an entire chapter, as can be seen in the listing of chapters, on social-emotional learning and how manga is a good place for young people to be able to identify positive traits in relation to one’s own social-emotional health and well being. And she also goes into the natural side interest in Japanese culture in general that oftentimes also becomes appealing to readers of manga.
While I can’t promise that I will personally use every suggestion the author makes in her book, I do value the wealth of examples she gives and will indeed be checking this book out again a bit later, after the start of the school year, to be able to at the very least review her book title and genre suggestions, and her additional resources lists.
Which brings me to one other thing I should probably mention. I already had this book last year on buying lists I’d put together but kept moving it to a “buy later” list because of its price. It’s actually a pretty expensive book (generally $50 or higher). I assume this is because it is published by ALA (American Library Association) Editions, and is therefore considered to be a professional/scholarly publication.
I could never justify spending that much on a professional development book that only I would read instead of using the money on more books for the students. But then one day when I was in my local public library branch of the Tampa-Hillsborough County Public Library (Florida), there it was. A copy of Manga in Libraries: A Guide for Teen Librarians sitting on their “NEW BOOKS” shelf. (And for once I hadn’t even been the person to request for them to buy a copy!)
So, I immediately checked it out. The moment I saw it and how small a book it is, page count wise and also just physically small, I was glad that I’d never bought a copy. But I highly recommend this book to any and all librarians interested in providing manga as part of their library’s books collection and programming, to try to do as I did and check out a copy from somewhere. After reading it, they might decide to buy their own copy if funds allow.
I gave Manga in Libraries: A Guide for Teen Librarians a four out of five stars on GoodReads.
— David Young
A nice brief overview—only 136 pages, and I didn’t even read the two appendices in the back, the longer of which is a guide to conducting webinars on manga in libraries, the shorter being additional manga book lists—of the Japanese form of graphic literature (or comics) called “manga” (pronounced as mahn-gah, not main-gah, although I must admit I still have trouble with that sometimes) specifically in relation to its place in library collections and library programming.
Me giving the table of contents chapter names is probably the best way of summarizing it: Chapter 1 “Manga 101”, Chapter 2 “Manga Collection Development”, Chapter 3 “Representation in Manga”, Chapter 4 “Social-Emotional Learning and Manga”, Chapter 5 “Manga Programming”, Chapter 6 “Teaching With Manga”, and the two aforementioned Appendices (both under the heading, “Manga Sparks Joy”), “Manga in Libraries Webinars” and “Manga Book Lists”.
As a high school media specialist who is also a life long comic book reader, I have put a lot of emphasis on building and maintaining a large comics/graphic novels and manga section ever since I started at my current school twelve years ago. My background is in the American comic books (superheroes, media tie-ins like Star Wars and Star Trek comics, and general fiction and nonfiction graphic novels). My personal knowledge and experience with manga was (and still is) virtually nil. However, it was immediately apparent that the manga volumes already in the library collection when I arrived were pretty much the most popular books in the place. Some kids would come in multiple times in the same day to swap them out.
Not being knowledgeable of that various titles beyond what we already had (and cognizant that there are manga titles for all ages, including ones for adults that are not appropriate for a public high school library media center; one of the things this book goes into are manga publisher generated suggested audience age and content ratings and where to find those), I have generally taken a pretty conservative approach by mostly just replacing lost copies and buying the next newer volumes of the titles we already have. Occasionally I would order one or two volumes of a title we didn’t already have upon requests from students.
However, beyond the really good explanations given in Manga in Libraries of *why* so many young people enjoy reading manga (especially young girls but boys too), how manga characters are written and drawn so that boys and girls can empathize with those characters, their emotions, situations, etc., the next most valuable thing to me is its section on the very wide range of fictional genres available in manga, including samples of each. This is something that I will definitely look into doing better with resources like this, to try to diversify my school library media center’s manga collection to be more than the mostly boys and girls fantasy warrior/superhero type of stories that currently make up the bulk of what we have.
There are chapters that give detailed descriptions of manga programming the author has done with the students at her school, including manga related clubs, classes, volunteers/assistants groups, and even how to put on a manga comics convention. (Her school is in or nearby New York City so she also has field trip suggestions but obviously not all of those would be available or practical in all locations.)
She also spends an entire chapter, as can be seen in the listing of chapters, on social-emotional learning and how manga is a good place for young people to be able to identify positive traits in relation to one’s own social-emotional health and well being. And she also goes into the natural side interest in Japanese culture in general that oftentimes also becomes appealing to readers of manga.
While I can’t promise that I will personally use every suggestion the author makes in her book, I do value the wealth of examples she gives and will indeed be checking this book out again a bit later, after the start of the school year, to be able to at the very least review her book title and genre suggestions, and her additional resources lists.
Which brings me to one other thing I should probably mention. I already had this book last year on buying lists I’d put together but kept moving it to a “buy later” list because of its price. It’s actually a pretty expensive book (generally $50 or higher). I assume this is because it is published by ALA (American Library Association) Editions, and is therefore considered to be a professional/scholarly publication.
I could never justify spending that much on a professional development book that only I would read instead of using the money on more books for the students. But then one day when I was in my local public library branch of the Tampa-Hillsborough County Public Library (Florida), there it was. A copy of Manga in Libraries: A Guide for Teen Librarians sitting on their “NEW BOOKS” shelf. (And for once I hadn’t even been the person to request for them to buy a copy!)
So, I immediately checked it out. The moment I saw it and how small a book it is, page count wise and also just physically small, I was glad that I’d never bought a copy. But I highly recommend this book to any and all librarians interested in providing manga as part of their library’s books collection and programming, to try to do as I did and check out a copy from somewhere. After reading it, they might decide to buy their own copy if funds allow.
I gave Manga in Libraries: A Guide for Teen Librarians a four out of five stars on GoodReads.
— David Young
I've long thought it's a damn shame Brian Blessed never had a chance to portray Professor Challenger.
There are three notable actors to sci-fi fans who have protrayed Challenger, though -- Armin Shimerman, John Rhys-Davies, and Bruce Boxleitner.
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I'd also count count Bob Hoskins on that list.
Watchers in the Dark (David Annadale)
Nearing the end of Crucible: The Star to Every Wandering.
I'm noticing that over the entire trilogy, DRG has on the one hand gone out of his way to allude to TOS, TAS, and TOS movie canon, but on the other hand has totally disregarded (and perhaps even intentionally contradicted) established novel continuity (particularly in the case of what Diane Carey and Brad Ferguson had written about Kirk's childhood, and how he had come to witness the Tarsus IV Massacre), even more than Goodman's Kirk "Autobiography."
I'm noticing that over the entire trilogy, DRG has on the one hand gone out of his way to allude to TOS, TAS, and TOS movie canon, but on the other hand has totally disregarded (and perhaps even intentionally contradicted) established novel continuity (particularly in the case of what Diane Carey and Brad Ferguson had written about Kirk's childhood, and how he had come to witness the Tarsus IV Massacre), even more than Goodman's Kirk "Autobiography."
Individual novels pre-2000 did not represent "established novel continuity." Aside from a limited effort in the mid- to late 1980s, Pocket Trek novels were standalone and generally unrelated to each other's continuity. Nothing proposed in one novel was required or expected to be honored by other novels, except in cases where the novelists chose to acknowledge elements from earlier books.
Heck, even the post-2000 continuity was never mandatory, just an option that the editors encouraged and we writers happily went along with. There was always complete freedom for any novelist to disregard that continuity and do their own thing if that was what served their story best, as David did in Crucible. The purpose of that trilogy was to honor the anniversary of TOS, and so he and his editor deemed it appropriate to connect it only to TOS/TAS and not be reliant on anything else, so that it would be accessible to new readers unfamiliar with the other novels.
Brian Blessed plays Professor Basil Champion in the audio drama The Curse of the Black Comet, a very obvious Challenger pastiche, and it is hilariously delightful.
I would add Claude Rains to the list, considering he was also The Invisible Man, in the very first movie version of the H.G. Wells novel. (And played Challenger in the 1960s movie version of The Lost World).
You could throw in Basil Rathbone, who played Challenger in a 1966 record-album adaptation. His sci-fi credits include The Ghost of Frankenstein and a few '60s B movies including The Magic Sword and Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet.
And Queen of Blood.
I finished the Crucible Trilogy late last night. Many such journeys are possible. The interaction between Kirk and Harriman, and Kirk's conclusions about him, brought to mind thoughts of how it was Harriman, in a short story, who gave us the USS Kiss, the USS Myas, and the ever-popular USS Limeball. Without throwing me out of the story.
And Mr. Bennett, yes, you've reiterated your reaction when I object (or anybody else objects) to a glaring continuity gap. And yes, I'm aware that writers don't write specifically for an audience with eidetic memories and encyclopedic knowledge of TrekLit, any more than they write for an audience of those willing to spend an hour or more poring over a photograph of a defibrillator that's been obsolete for decades, just to back up an argument that Emergency! didn't invoke the "magic defibrillator" trope.
I don't have eidetic recall of every Star Trek novel and short story that's ever been published. While I certainly recall the overall plots of a few all-time classics like Uhura's Song and The Vulcan Academy Murders, along with the more memorable works of Vonda McIntyre, Diane Carey, and A. C. Crispin, and just about everything Diane Duane wrote for Star Trek (not to mention both of John Ford's ST novels) I had to ask for help before I remembered that the earliest narrative of the Tarsus IV Massacre was a flashback in Brad Ferguson's A Flag Full of Stars. But I did remember that there was an earlier, better Tarsus IV narrative out there than Goodman's.
I will say this just once, though: in the course of four semesters of Short Story Workshop at a local junior college, one of the things the professor constantly drilled into the class was that you don't want to throw readers out of the story unless you're doing it deliberately, for a very good reason. And you don't have to have an eidetic recall of TrekLit, to read something and get thrown out with the thought of "This directly contradicts something that somebody else did a lot better, many years ago."
And Mr. Bennett, yes, you've reiterated your reaction when I object (or anybody else objects) to a glaring continuity gap. And yes, I'm aware that writers don't write specifically for an audience with eidetic memories and encyclopedic knowledge of TrekLit, any more than they write for an audience of those willing to spend an hour or more poring over a photograph of a defibrillator that's been obsolete for decades, just to back up an argument that Emergency! didn't invoke the "magic defibrillator" trope.
I don't have eidetic recall of every Star Trek novel and short story that's ever been published. While I certainly recall the overall plots of a few all-time classics like Uhura's Song and The Vulcan Academy Murders, along with the more memorable works of Vonda McIntyre, Diane Carey, and A. C. Crispin, and just about everything Diane Duane wrote for Star Trek (not to mention both of John Ford's ST novels) I had to ask for help before I remembered that the earliest narrative of the Tarsus IV Massacre was a flashback in Brad Ferguson's A Flag Full of Stars. But I did remember that there was an earlier, better Tarsus IV narrative out there than Goodman's.
I will say this just once, though: in the course of four semesters of Short Story Workshop at a local junior college, one of the things the professor constantly drilled into the class was that you don't want to throw readers out of the story unless you're doing it deliberately, for a very good reason. And you don't have to have an eidetic recall of TrekLit, to read something and get thrown out with the thought of "This directly contradicts something that somebody else did a lot better, many years ago."
My point is that it's a category error to call it a "continuity gap" at all, because the books you're referring to were written in an era when continuity was the exception, not the rule. None of us reading Diane Carey's or Brad Ferguson's novels at the time would've expected any other novel to acknowledge them or stay consistent with them; it would've been a nice bonus if they did, but it certainly wouldn't have been perceived as anomalous or wrong if they didn't.
It shouldn't matter what you remember, because continuity is not the point of fiction. If a story can't be understood on its own without reference to earlier works, then the writer has done it wrong. Continuity is simply a bonus.
And which one of multiple versions of the same event is "better" is a matter of individual opinion. That's the good thing about writers having the freedom to imagine multiple alternate ways of telling a story, instead of everyone having to conform to an inflexible continuity. That way, if you don't like one version, you can find another that you like better.
That only "throws you out" if you expect continuity, or if you assume it's mandatory. And those are the wrong expectations to have. It's not "contradiction," it's just different creators imagining different possibilities.
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