So What Are you Reading?: Generations

[Cyfa]

GHOSTS: The Button House Archives by Mat Baynton, Simon Farnaby, Martha Howe-Douglas, Jim Howick, Laurence Rickard, and Ben Willbond.
My copy arrived yesterday so I haven't read very much, but what I have is absolutely brilliant! The "voices" of Alison and the ghosts are spot on, and the collected documents are very clever and funny. This will certainly tide me over until the Christmas Special!

 

[hbquikcomjamesl]

Oh, that one's encyclopedic error -- it comes from the Star Trek Concordance

I'll look tonight. And I'll also look up Boyce, while I'm at it.

No shit! Boyce, too! What were you thinking, Bjo?

 

[Christopher]

No shit! Boyce, too! What were you thinking, Bjo?

Trimble got a lot of the info in the Concordance from production memos, scripts, etc., so perhaps there was an alternate first name for Boyce in one of the early drafts. Roddenberry changed characters' names a lot, e.g. Robert April to Christopher Pike, with some other alternates along the way.

 

[hbquikcomjamesl]

And yet I recall Boyce's first name (1) being mentioned in TMOST, and (2) being used on-screen, in "Cage" footage that did make it into "The Menagerie" (in the "Doctor Bartender" scene, as I recall).

 

[Christopher]

And yet I recall Boyce's first name (1) being mentioned in TMOST, and (2) being used on-screen, in "Cage" footage that did make it into "The Menagerie" (in the "Doctor Bartender" scene, as I recall).

Yes, it's an error, but I'm suggesting where it might have come from.

 

[hbquikcomjamesl]

Continuing with Enterprise: The First Adventure. The bridge has been invaded by small dogs, Lindy wants to cover the hangar deck floor with dirt, Kirk is struggling to correct the first impression he gave the crew, and Uhura is working out the logistics of giving Roswind her comeuppance for bullying Rand.

I honestly don't understand the hostility leveled at this opus. I consider it to be (at least among TrekLit) to be her crowning achievement and her legacy, far and away superior to The Entropy Effect (which is too bogged down in direct contradictions of time travel stories that were canonical before she was a published author). I like the idea that Kirk, itching for a deep space exploratory mission, would be handed a milk-run that was an admiral's pet project, and that his resentment of that assignment would make him seem a martinet to a crew that was used to Pike, and that somehow, both a first-contact and Klingon trouble would end up finding him.

 

[youngtrek]

You Wouldn’t Like Me When I’m Angry: A Hulk Companion by Patrick A. Jankiewicz (BearManor Press, 2011).

Finished reading this one last week. Although, in reality, I read at least half of the book back in 2017-2018, the half that’s not the episode guide section of the book. I then started an off-and-on watch-through of the “Incredible Hulk” 1977-1982 television series, reading through the episodes section of the book as I went. After a long break, I finally got around to finishing watching seasons four and five of the series (plus the three 1980s reunion made-for-tv movies), and finished reading the book.

I liked the book, but I have to say that i enjoyed the author’s recent The Greatest American Hero Companion (2023, BearManor) book more. For one thing, since with this reading I was watching the episodes as I was reading the reviews, I was able to spot several errors in the book as to things happening in the episodes, and also was surprised when the author didn’t even mention things that seemed to be of interest.

Still, a very good classic tv series behind-the-scenes retrospective book. Jankiewicz excels at acquiring lots of very good interview material with the series creators, actors, directors, crew, etc.

I gave this book four out of five stars on GoodReads.

— David Young

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

In a Far-Off Land by Stephanie Landsem

 

[Smiley]

Reading for the first time:

Star Wars: Tarkin by James Luceno
The Miscalculations of Lightning Girl by Stacy McAnulty (kind of like Rain Man for 7th graders)

Rereading:

Star Trek: A Good Day to Die by KRAD

That first chapter on Ty'Gokor was a delight to read for this Klingon-loving fan.

 

[hbquikcomjamesl]

Just finished re-reading Enterprise: The First Adventure.

Just started on Cassidy Hutchinson's book. Her father was even more of a total prick than Trump or his father. If I'd watched my father and his good-old-boys network taking pot-shots at a turtle that had already been rendered helpless (and probably senseless), and calling it "hunting," blasting it to the point where there probably wasn't any usable meat (or usable anything else) left of it, I'd have probably become a vegetarian, too, despite the fact that there are very few vegetables I can stand the taste of.

 

[Smiley]

I've got a pretty good assortment going at the moment:

Tales of the Batman by Len Wein
Fantastic Four: The Ultimate Collection by Mark Waid and Mike Wieringo (reread)
The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien (reread)
Star Trek: Rising Son by S.D. Perry (reread)
Star Wars: Heir to the Jedi by Kevin Hearne
A Good Girl's Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson

 

[hbquikcomjamesl]

I finished Cassidy Hutchinson's book this past weekend (surprisingly readable, as political memoirs go: I could take it in much larger doses than most current political memoirs), and started on PRO: Escape Route.

Then I realized (as noted elsewhere) that the basic premise of Escape Route was a spoiler for the whole second half of the first season. So instead of going on to the second volume of my DSCs4 DVD set, at a leisurely pace, I'd break the seal on my PROs1(11-20) DVD set, and go through it rather quickly. By the time I got to "Crossroads," I realized that I should probably start Escape Route from scratch, after I finish the season.

 

[Reanok]

Feral attraction by Eileen Watkins and Curse of the Pharoahs by Elizabeth Peters

 

[Greg Cox]

Conan: The Road of Kings by Karl Edward Wagner

 

[Jedi Marso]

Working two books simultaneously right now:

At home: A re-read of Zahn's Spectre of the Past.
Away on kindle: The Last Roman: Exile by B.K. Greenwood.

 

[Daddy Todd]

Recently finished Galloping Around the Cosmos. It was fun! Yesterday I finished the ninth Expanse book. Honestly, I got a little misty over it. I’ve really enjoyed that series.

Now I’m trying to get back into Enterprise: The First Adventure, as well as Odysseus Wept, the most recent (and now final, since the IP owner pulled the license) Space: 1999 book from Powys.

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

Relative Justice, by Robert Whitlow.

 

[youngtrek]

Got halfway through Patrick Stewart’s memoir, Making It So, before having to take it back to the public library. It’s very good and I’m already on hold to get it again (when it can get back to me; lots of holds on this one).

Also have out from the library the new Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan: The Making of the Classic Film book and am about a quarter of the way through that.

And am still reading John Jackson Miller’s Star Trek: Discovery: The Enterprise War on eBook (but I keep getting pulled away from it by the other books, tv, movies, football, etc.; I’m a bit over a third through it now).


David Young

 

[hbquikcomjamesl]

Started PRO: Escape Route again. Makes more sense now.

 

[Smiley]

It's amazing how books will read differently for you at different times of your life. I finished my reread of Rising Son, which I read at last three times.

2003: The relaunch was in full swing, Opaka and Jake coming back was a big deal, and I was in college
2019: I had more life perspective, and we knew what all of the foreshadowing would and would not lead to
2023: I am closer in age and experience to Dez than Jake, there has been a pandemic and a Coda trilogy since my last read

This time around, I was much more focused on the character growth and journey of Jake and how all of the Even Odds crew members saw life and their role in it. It's a pretty short novel, but it gives the reader a lot to ponder. I still think that what happens in the Idran system is bonkers, awesome, and a terrific use of some things that were set up in the TV series.