The Assassination Game

[tomswift2002]

Just started to read "The Assassination Game", and I must say that it is not a children's book. The first 2 chapters have a lot more sexual innuendo and profanity in them than even a normal Adult Trek book.

One of the character's, right on the last page of Chapter 2 is asked what they would like to do with Cadet Uhura, and that character describes a very sexual position and even uses the "B" word.

 

[Therin of Andor]

Just started to read "The Assassination Game", and I must say that it is not a children's book.

They are not being promoted as children's books, but as "Young Adult" or "Teen Romance" genre.

The first book in the series opened with Gaila drinking to excess and barely surviving a gang of rapists.

 

[Defcon]

FYI There's a review thread for the book.

 

[tomswift2002]

Just started to read "The Assassination Game", and I must say that it is not a children's book.

They are not being promoted as children's books, but as "Young Adult" or "Teen Romance" genre.

The first book in the series opened with Gaila drinking to excess and barely surviving a gang of rapists.

What's going on in the first two chapters read more like Harlequin Romance rather than Teen romance. But as I said in my original statement this type of stuff is up a couple of steps above the regular Adult Trek novels.

But in most stores this series is in the children's section, and how many times will parents check out the age on the back?

 

[Therin of Andor]

how many times will parents check out the age on the back?

As often as parents buy "Grand Theft Auto" for their eight-year-olds.

Not to mention people who took their ten-year olds to midnight premieres of "The Dark Knight Rises" on the strength of watching a trailer.

 

[JRoss]

They are not being promoted as children's books, but as "Young Adult" or "Teen Romance" genre.

The first book in the series opened with Gaila drinking to excess and barely surviving a gang of rapists.

How "romantic." When my daughter's a teenager, she isn't gonna be reading that.

 

[Sho]

^ Obviously not meaning to second-guess your parenting choices (especially since I don't yet have kids of my own), but I was a teenager when I read Stephen R. Donaldson's magnificent Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, which has the eponymous protagonist rape a teenage girl within the first 150 pages. I can't deny it's one of my most traumatizing literary memories and probably made me grow up a little faster, but also sensitive to the topic of violence against women in subsequent years to a degree that proved helpful later when supporting a victim. I certainly think parents should involve themselves in the reading habits of their children, but there is something to be said for challenging young minds.

 

[JRoss]

Oh, dude, don't get me wrong. I'm not going to be a total censor or anything. I actually want her to be exposed to a broad range of subjects, including books like The Hunger Games when she's old enough. Gang rape squicks me out.

 

[Sci]

Oh, dude, don't get me wrong. I'm not going to be a total censor or anything. I actually want her to be exposed to a broad range of subjects, including books like The Hunger Games when she's old enough. Gang rape squicks me out.

I really think that you should either not censor your child's reading at all, or that you should read these books first (if your child expresses interest in reading them in the first place) before deciding she can't read them.

 

[1bulma1]

Just started to read "The Assassination Game", and I must say that it is not a children's book. The first 2 chapters have a lot more sexual innuendo and profanity in them than even a normal Adult Trek book.

One of the character's, right on the last page of Chapter 2 is asked what they would like to do with Cadet Uhura, and that character describes a very sexual position and even uses the "B" word.

lol I loved that part of the book because it showed how protective Kirk could could be.

 

[BritishSeaPower]

Yes, and the use of the "B word" (Which is a phrase that belays more immaturity than actually saying the word, but I digress) is rather wryly being used appropriately, as the alien species are modeled after wolves or dogs. I believe Varkolak means Werewolf in an Eastern European dialect.

As well, I believe it has been stated before that a certain amount of sexuality was being "demanded" - for lack of a better term - from the authors to appeal to the 14-18 crowd. All to better reflect the more overly sexual nature of the 2009 film. The books *are* being billed as YOUNG ADULT and not children's, which are two distinct markets with different sets of approval. I don't know about others, but in the past few years I've seen the YA books being moved far afield of the Children's section. YA/Teen Romance/Teen Horror are all stocked next to the Sci-Fi/Fantasy Section in the three stores near me, across the store from the Children's section.

Not for nothing, but I live in New York and have never actually seen the Starfleet Academy books shelved in a store. The few people I know who also read them have similar availability issues. B&N told me they didn't see a point in stocking them when I asked around as to why none were available in store.

On a side note, JRoss as someone who has fond memories of reading adult-level books at 12, I cringe at the implication of censoring your child's reading.

 

[JRoss]

I said that I'm not going to censor her. For the record, I read Jurassic Park and 2001: A Space Odyssey at age 9, Stranger in a Strange Land at 13, and all manner of "grown-up" books as a very, very young boy. There are some books that I think a child needs to read, like Maniac McGee and A Series of Unfortunate Events. I do plan on reading everything with her or before she does. There are some things that I just plain would not want her to read.

In an old issue of The Magazine of Science Fiction and Fantasy there was this story about a guy who's like a time traveler who visits different dimensions by humming. He gets lost and to survive ends up mutating his body with a song, changing his genitals so that they hit his knees when he walks and featuring a very graphic scene with three cave women. I would not want her reading that. I wouldn't read it if I had the chance again.

 

[Sci]

I said that I'm not going to censor her. For the record, I read Jurassic Park and 2001: A Space Odyssey at age 9, Stranger in a Strange Land at 13, and all manner of "grown-up" books as a very, very young boy. There are some books that I think a child needs to read, like Maniac McGee and A Series of Unfortunate Events. I do plan on reading everything with her or before she does. There are some things that I just plain would not want her to read.

In an old issue of The Magazine of Science Fiction and Fantasy there was this story about a guy who's like a time traveler who visits different dimensions by humming. He gets lost and to survive ends up mutating his body with a song, changing his genitals so that they hit his knees when he walks and featuring a very graphic scene with three cave women. I would not want her reading that. I wouldn't read it if I had the chance again.

I'm sorry, but you seem to be contradicting yourself. You say you're not going to censor your daughter's reading, but then you list things you don't want her to read. Do you mean to say that, if she asks, you will recommend to her that she not read such books but not prevent, or do you mean to say you won't be allowing her to read books you don't want her to read?

 

[JRoss]

Would I be censoring her if I kept her from porn or things that describe rape for entertainment? I understand the seriousness of rape and the positive effects that discussing it in literature can have, but "barely survives a gang of rapists" sounds pretty sick and Star Trek doesn't seem like the place to have it.

 

[Sci]

Would I be censoring her if I kept her from porn

Of course that's censorship. Which is fine -- a certain amount of censorship is responsible parenting, depending upon both the material in question and the maturity level of the child. A responsible parent wouldn't let a 5-year-old watch, say, Saw.

The issue is not whether or not you engage in any censorship whatsoever. The issue is twofold: Will you acknowledge that you will be engaging in some censorship when you obviously are, and will you be continuing such censorship when the child is old enough to begin making her own decisions on reading material?

or things that describe rape for entertainment? I understand the seriousness of rape and the positive effects that discussing it in literature can have, but "barely survives a gang of rapists" sounds pretty sick and Star Trek doesn't seem like the place to have it.

I think you're jumping to conclusions without assessing the context of the work in question, and deciding it's okay to censor with no consideration given to the way in which the material is presented or to the question of your daughter's agency in deciding her own reading materials.

Murder is a pretty damn serious thing -- yet that wouldn't stop most parents from letting their kids read Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, even though it literally starts with an act of murder. Racism is a very serious topic, but that doesn't mean The Watsons Go to Birmingham: 1963 by Christopher Paul Curtis should be kept out of a child's hands. The Holocaust is pretty damn serious; The Devil's Arithmetic is still an amazing book every middle schooler should read.

All you know about these Starfleet Academy books is what some guy on the Internet said. You should probably read them yourself, and judge that against the maturity level of your daughter, before deciding to censor or not censor. And you should give serious consideration to the idea that by the time your daughter is old enough to choose her own reading material and to choose to read Young Adult literature, that she'll have outgrown the need for (and appropriateness of) any censorship on your part.

 

[JRoss]

Okay, Sci, I think that we're pretty close to being on the same page here. Yeah, I'm gonna censor some things, but I was using the word to mean going all Torquemada and such on her. I plan on exposing her to books like Night by Elie Wiesel, Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, Number the Stars and so forth.

I read probably between 800 and 1,000 books before I was 20. I'm not kidding. I'd hate for my kid (FYI she comes into the world next month) to miss out on the wonderful things that I got to read as a kid. I was advanced for my age, and that kind of thing runs in the family. I've got high hopes for exposing her to all sorts of wonderful reads.

 

[Therin of Andor]

"barely survives a gang of rapists" sounds pretty sick and Star Trek doesn't seem like the place to have it.

Tasha Yar barely survives rape gangs in her colonial past in TNG.

 

[Christopher]

I think maybe there's some ambiguity of word choice here that might be confusing the issue. I interpret "barely surviving a gang of rapists" to mean "being pursued by aspiring rapists and barely getting away unraped," but it occurs to me that it could be read as "being violently gang-raped and barely living through the experience." So perhaps JRoss is interpreting the phrase the latter way, which makes it sound far worse than the former would. Therin, would you clarify which of those you actually meant when talking about Gaila in the Academy novels?

(Where Tasha was concerned, it was never made quite clear in the show, but I think the idea there was that she didn't escape unraped, and I think the novel Survivors suggested that pretty strongly.)

 

[BritishSeaPower]

I can tell you I honestly don't recall the Gaila scene. Was it The Edge or The Delta Anomaly. I keep seeing mention of it across the boards, but my memory is pulling a blank. I didn't read it *that* long ago, either.

 

[Astraea]

I think maybe there's some ambiguity of word choice here that might be confusing the issue. I interpret "barely surviving a gang of rapists" to mean "being pursued by aspiring rapists and barely getting away unraped," but it occurs to me that it could be read as "being violently gang-raped and barely living through the experience." So perhaps JRoss is interpreting the phrase the latter way, which makes it sound far worse than the former would. Therin, would you clarify which of those you actually meant when talking about Gaila in the Academy novels?

(Where Tasha was concerned, it was never made quite clear in the show, but I think the idea there was that she didn't escape unraped, and I think the novel Survivors suggested that pretty strongly.)

IIRC (I can't pull my copy of The Assassination Game right now, but I think I would remember an explicit rape), Gaila is definitely not raped; I think that it's the sort of thing where the gangs are mentioned as a problem and Kirk tells her to be more careful about where she goes in the future. It was at the beginning of the book, and the idea of rape gangs on Earth in the TOS era was...more than a bit disconcerting and unappealing, really, but there wasn't anything graphic.

But I'm re-reading Survivors right now, and I can say definitively that it confirmed Tasha was raped (and is probably the most explicit that any of the books in description save maybe New Frontier and Soleta's mother); the book talks about how the rape gangs caught Tasha, "forced her to submit," and "took their turns at her." The whole description constitutes maybe a long paragraph or two.

With regards to censoring Star Trek books for your kids based on content, though, I really think that it should be more of a "read the same book and discuss as needed" situation. I mean, I started reading the Star Trek TNG numbered novels when I was about 7-8, read them all, and was fine - if my mom thought there was anything that needed to be discussed, we discussed it, but if I could read something then my parents generally weren't going to discourage me from doing so.

If something was really concerning, then my parents would put it on hold (I wasn't allowed to read Anne Rice's Mayfair Witches books until I was in middle school, because of the very explicit rape and incest, and I'm pretty sure they probably kept anything pornographic like the sci-fi story you mentioned out of my view), but I can't remember ever being told "You can't read this book" ever, or without being provided a reason. Again, I think the best approach to take is to read something and then discuss it - which I think is what it sounds like you're doing, JRoss.

As a matter of literary quality, I'd generally avoid the new Trek YA novels, like The Edge or The Assassination Game, but that's just because they're not very good. If you want to introduce your daughter to Trek and feel strongly about not wanting any mentions of rape or murder, then the old YA books are probably best - Worf's First Adventure, Capture the Flag, Prisoners of Peace, things like that. But I think the numbered Trek novels are fine for kids, even if they do have a description of rape (Survivors), murder (...a lot of the numbered novels), or just disturbingly-described death (Chains of Command opens with an away team accident in which a redshirt crewman's skin bubbles and dissolves.)