the third "myriad universes" book

[sonak]

I've always liked alternate reality stories. Away from Trek, I love alternate history stories. "The Man in the High Castle" is one of my favorite sci-fi books. I love Trek alternate reality stuff too, from episodes like "Mirror, Mirror" to the various books that have explored the concept. I enjoyed the first two books in the "myriad universes" series. So, I bought the third one, especially being intrigued by the premise behind the first of the three stories, where Picard is destroyed along with the Borg Cube during an alternate "BOBW" timeline.

Well, the book was the worst of the three. The first story turned out to be slow, repeating some stuff from TNG episodes, and doing little that was interesting with a potentially great premise. I finished it but it was a chore.

The second one with Captain Sulu and an alternate Vulcan society started out HORRIBLY for me, but I stuck it out and it improved somewhat toward the end, finishing up as merely "O.K."

The last one I didn't even finish. It just wasn't interesting to me, didn't grab me, and I felt that another story in the collection turning out to be a chore was just too much.


I don't know if there are plans to continue the series. I hope they will, as I prefer stand-alone Trek to serialized re-launch stuff because I read Trek for fun, and like popping in and out with books that seem interesting, rather than just scratching my head at why Quark has had to close the bar because Bajor has joined the UFP and how often Prophet-Sisko has returned to DS9 since WYLB, etc.


Thanks for reading my rant. Trek alternate-reality stories have GREAT potential. Find interesting stories, guys!

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I thought "Honor in the Night" was one of the best myriad-verse stories I've read. In the TOS episode where he appeared, Nilz Baris kind of got the short shrift. We were just supposed to see him as a typical stuffy, arrogant bureaucrat. I bet it never occurred to anyone at the time that Baris might have had reasons for acting the way he did, or that he sometimes could be *right*...

 

[captcalhoun]

i agree that the first story was the worst, especially with it's 'goes nowhere does nothing ending', but i loved the second and third stories.

 

[Sci]

I don't know if there are plans to continue the series. I hope they will, as I prefer stand-alone Trek to serialized re-launch stuff because I read Trek for fun, and like popping in and out with books that seem interesting, rather than just scratching my head at why Quark has had to close the bar because Bajor has joined the UFP

Well, he thought he was going to have to close the bar because the Federation (supposedly) doesn't use money. But it became moot, because Rom appointed Quark as Ferengi Ambassador to Bajor, allowing Quark to operate his bar as the Ferengi Embassy to Bajor -- giving the bar extraterritoriality status and therefore the right to charge latinum for its bar services.

and how often Prophet-Sisko has returned to DS9 since WYLB, etc.

Sisko returned from the Celestial Temple in the novel Unity, set in 2375, and has stayed in the mortal realm since.

 

[bullethead]

I actually liked the first story since it could've been a prequel to Parallels if Data didn't resign, but I do agree that it was a bit slow. I couldn't get through the Kumari story and the Arne Darvin story was such an obvious clone of Citizen Kane that I got two chapters in and stopped.

 

[JD]

So far the only story I've read from Shattered Light was "The Tears of Eridanus" and I thought it was great. But then I'm a huge fan of the Sulus, Andorians, and Vulcans, so I guess unless it was absolutely unreadable, it was pretty much a guaranteed win for me.

 

[bullethead]

So far the only story I've read from Shattered Light was "The Tears of Eridanus" and I thought it was great. But then I'm a huge fan of the Sulus, Andorians, and Vulcans, so I guess unless it was absolutely unreadable, it was pretty much a guaranteed win for me.

I think my biggest problem with it was the pointless division of the story into Kumari and Eridanus chapters, which didn't really serve any purpose at all and sort of jarred me out of the story. Demora's part also got irritating once it got to the mind melding... then again, I think it's the fact that Demora didn't really seem to develop or be fleshed out all that much in the story up to that point that made those sections somewhat tedious.

 

[MichaelS]

The chapter division was intended to be an homage of sorts to Diane Duane's Spock's World, which had alternating Enterprise and Vulcan chapters. Admittedly, in that case, the Vulcan chapters were not set in the same time period as the Enterprise chapters, so it probably made more sense there. Still, since we used a lot of information about Vulcan from Diane's books, we felt we should put in that reference. (Too meta? You be the judge.)

Sorry the story didn't work for you.

 

[anaya]

Actually, I dont like it...

 

[bullethead]

The chapter division was intended to be an homage of sorts to Diane Duane's Spock's World, which had alternating Enterprise and Vulcan chapters. Admittedly, in that case, the Vulcan chapters were not set in the same time period as the Enterprise chapters, so it probably made more sense there. Still, since we used a lot of information about Vulcan from Diane's books, we felt we should put in that reference. (Too meta? You be the judge.)

I see. Not having read Spock's World, that little reference flew over my head.

Sorry the story didn't work for you.

Well, I plan to revisit it soon, but it works a whole lot better for me than Sinclair Lewis' Babbitt.

 

[sonak]

update: I'm going back to the third story, and it's getting a little bit better. Still nothing special, though. A weak collection, overall.

 

[T'Ressa Dax]

The chapter division was intended to be an homage of sorts to Diane Duane's Spock's World, which had alternating Enterprise and Vulcan chapters. Admittedly, in that case, the Vulcan chapters were not set in the same time period as the Enterprise chapters, so it probably made more sense there. Still, since we used a lot of information about Vulcan from Diane's books, we felt we should put in that reference. (Too meta? You be the judge.)

Sorry the story didn't work for you.

Didn't bother me. I enjoyed Spock's World, but I forgot about that connection. On the other hand, another author I read does that sort of thing in every book, so I guess I"m just used to the format from her.

ETA: Tears was easily my favorite story of the 3, with Honor in the Night second.

 

[Stevil2001]

Well, the reference in the structure is a nugget-- the alternating chapter thing should work regardless of having read Spock's World. (I think we decided on the naming scheme after deciding on the structure. At first, it was H1, D1, H2, D2, and so on.)

 

[MichaelS]

I think we decided on the naming scheme after deciding on the structure.

To be honest, I don't remember; it's been so long since we wrote that. It sounds like something we would do, though.

 

[Steve Roby]

Well, I plan to revisit it soon, but it works a whole lot better for me than Sinclair Lewis' Babbitt.

I read Babbitt and Main Street. Voluntarily. And enjoyed them. Sure, if I was going to reread some early 20th century American lit I'd go for Manhattan Transfer by John Dos Passos first, but Lewis struck me as entirely readable.

 

[Nerys Ghemor]

Okay...so I've just read all three of these stories and wanted to offer my thoughts on them.

The Embrace of Cold Architects

As other critics mentioned in the old Shattered Light thread, it feels like a bit of a kitbash, plot-wise...too many things to cover, that would have worked best in a full-length novel so that everything could be explored. The scenes between Data and Lal were indeed the strongest that this book had to offer. The abrupt ending doesn't bother me as badly as it did some people, because it does allow some room to imagine what happens next.

What bothered me the most was Riker's "solution" to the Phoenix incident. Having the benefit of hindsight and knowing how Macet was later developed in the Treklit continuity, it seems like he really was ill-treated by Riker, and all because of the landmine he unknowingly stepped on when from Riker's point of view, he seemed to be goading him to fire on a Federation vessel again. Then again, perhaps the author was attempting here to show just how unstable Riker was by making him look like he's simply a "saner" version of Maxwell. Yes, Riker got what he wanted--not having to fire on the Phoenix, and exposing the Cardassians, but at what cost?

And something tells me this version of Starfleet would have no problem torturing Macet, Telle, and Daro once taken into captivity, if they thought it would serve their ends. And of all of them, I feel worst for Daro. Poor guy...all I could think of was him withering away in his own depression in a prison camp somewhere. He already seemed so sad in "The Wounded."

Yet on the other hand, while I understood where the breakdown was between Riker and Macet, I am one of those who finds Picard (pre-movies) to be a pompous, sanctimonious ass and a political creature. I do not buy the idea that everything would go to hell in a handbasket if Mr. Holier-Than-Thou were not in command and that suddenly Starfleet would become this horrible place with no values.



The Tears of Eridanus

This one was really fascinating in that we got to see an alternate version of the Federation that was not dominated by human ideals, but by Andorian ones, and for humanity to finally become the minority. And while there were things that made me uncomfortable from time to time (particularly the hint about what happened to the Xindi, that it didn't stop with simply dismantling their warfighting apparatus), it was quite refreshing to me to read about a version of "Starfleet" that was able to keep its exploration and warfighting missions separate (though both still existed), and indeed, did not forget that it was a military first and foremost.

One thing I'm curious to know is whether humanity's population is significantly reduced compared to how it is in the canon universe. Was Earth hindered in its colonization efforts?

Also, how was the Andorian reproduction crisis handled in that universe? The strength of the IG suggests that it had to have been, given that these crews are Andorian-dominated and that the Andorian population may even be higher than the human one.

But what I loved most was the AU Vulcan, to see exactly what kind of Mad Max world they'd created for themselves. But beyond that, the best part was discovering--after having just recently completed a read-through of all of the Bloodwing Chronicles, to include The Romulan Way--that the presumed savior-to-be of this version of Vulcan was in fact S'task rather than Surak. That really got my imagination going, wondering what it would be like someday for the Union to have what are essentially the Rihannsu right smack in the middle of their territory.

One thing I'm curious about. To what extent is a particular author's contribution to Treklit that author's property? Do current authors have to ask Ms. Duane permission, for instance, to use the character of S'task or to invoke the concept of mnhei'sahe?


Honor in the Night

Whoa...I did not see the ending coming in what I thought was a really awesome "Cold War" style story that did not pretend to be truly noble, but an incredible work of intrigue, politics, and guilt.

I am not saying as much about it as I did the others, but aside from some rather embarrassing typos ("Betazoid" instead of "Betazed" and "feint" when they meant "faint" as in pass out), the story was absolutely perfect. There was no sense of missing threads, the pacing was perfectly controlled, and the plot was truly mindblowing. The best of the collection, for sure.

 

[DonIago]

Oh, I did love Honor in the Night, much more than either of the other two stories. Is it a riff on Citizen Kane? Well, yeah, kinda sorta...but that didn't make it any less awesome. And it's kind of fun to compare this version of Arne Darvin with others that we've encountered.

 

[bullethead]

The Embrace of Cold Architects

As other critics mentioned in the old Shattered Light thread, it feels like a bit of a kitbash, plot-wise...too many things to cover, that would have worked best in a full-length novel so that everything could be explored.

I have to agree with this. It was way too big in scope to be really fleshed out, but it did put out enough changes to make it feel like the point of divergence actually mattered and shook things up (unlike, say, "A Less Perfect Union," where everything lined up so that all those TOS characters either ended up on the Enterprise, knowing each other, or being involved in the events of the story). It's a shame that it came out when it did, because if the Myriad Universes line was further along in it's growth, it would've been a great first Myriad Universes novel (but given how the TOS MU story was later turned into a novel, there's a chance some of these stories might get that treatment- hopefully this one would be first on the list).

What bothered me the most was Riker's "solution" to the Phoenix incident. Having the benefit of hindsight and knowing how Macet was later developed in the Treklit continuity, it seems like he really was ill-treated by Riker, and all because of the landmine he unknowingly stepped on when from Riker's point of view, he seemed to be goading him to fire on a Federation vessel again. Then again, perhaps the author was attempting here to show just how unstable Riker was by making him look like he's simply a "saner" version of Maxwell. Yes, Riker got what he wanted--not having to fire on the Phoenix, and exposing the Cardassians, but at what cost?

Actually, considering what happened in Trek canon, Riker exposing the Cardassians then was a lot better than the non-sense of the DMZ and the treaty that was going to result in war anyway. And I didn't get the feeling that Riker was "unstable" during the situation, but he was a lot less inclined to deal with Macet's bullshit given his emotional state and given all that had happened up to that point.

And something tells me this version of Starfleet would have no problem torturing Macet, Telle, and Daro once taken into captivity, if they thought it would serve their ends. And of all of them, I feel worst for Daro. Poor guy...all I could think of was him withering away in his own depression in a prison camp somewhere. He already seemed so sad in "The Wounded."

To be honest, the attitude of Starfleet throughout the story fit what we saw in TNG and early DS9: Starfleet has a bunch of assholes in the upper ranks and that was only reigned in by the rest of the admiralty being staffed with starry eyed optimists who don't actually give a damn about what happens as long as Starfleet maintains the status quo. But I doubt that the Cardies were treated badly (unless Section 31 got their hands on them- if there's a sequel to this story, it would be interesting to see how they would turn out since Starfleet seems to be less stupid than it seemed to be in the Prime universe).

Yet on the other hand, while I understood where the breakdown was between Riker and Macet, I am one of those who finds Picard (pre-movies) to be a pompous, sanctimonious ass and a political creature. I do not buy the idea that everything would go to hell in a handbasket if Mr. Holier-Than-Thou were not in command and that suddenly Starfleet would become this horrible place with no values.

In this universe, it seems like the status quo optimists got shoved into the background after the death of their paragon (Picard) and the people who realized that shit needed to be done took charge of Starfleet. In the Prime Universe, all that got shoved in the background after Picard and company stopped the Borg in BOBW (given the Defiant's backstory), so they got to remain complacent up until the prelude to the Dominion War, which is why Starfleet suddenly seems to turn into massive assholes in this story. We're not used to seeing Starfleet realizing that the bad guys simply don't care about their values and being pragmatic about it (aside from Section 31), because pragmatism has always been given a negative connotation in canon Trek due to Roddenberry's ideals.

The Tears of Eridanus

This one was really fascinating in that we got to see an alternate version of the Federation that was not dominated by human ideals, but by Andorian ones, and for humanity to finally become the minority. And while there were things that made me uncomfortable from time to time (particularly the hint about what happened to the Xindi, that it didn't stop with simply dismantling their warfighting apparatus), it was quite refreshing to me to read about a version of "Starfleet" that was able to keep its exploration and warfighting missions separate (though both still existed), and indeed, did not forget that it was a military first and foremost.

I liked that too, but the novelty of it wasn't that great since there was a lot of telling (which made sense given how much had to be crammed in there since the crew was mostly new).

One thing I'm curious to know is whether humanity's population is significantly reduced compared to how it is in the canon universe. Was Earth hindered in its colonization efforts?

Yeah, I was wondering what exactly was humanity's status in this universe, because it seemed a bit odd that there were the two humans on the Kumari, Demora, the humans on the science team, and some mentions of the human TOS crew members... and nothing else. It was really odd that there weren't more humans on the Kumari as part of the ground troops or something, because not all humans would go for the science or exploratory routes. I think there were some references to humans not really doing too well in the military branch or something, but I never really got a firm grasp on how things worked even though I made it at least half-way through the story.

But what I loved most was the AU Vulcan, to see exactly what kind of Mad Max world they'd created for themselves. But beyond that, the best part was discovering--after having just recently completed a read-through of all of the Bloodwing Chronicles, to include The Romulan Way--that the presumed savior-to-be of this version of Vulcan was in fact S'task rather than Surak. That really got my imagination going, wondering what it would be like someday for the Union to have what are essentially the Rihannsu right smack in the middle of their territory.

Yeah, the AU Vulcan was pretty cool, but I felt like all the mystery of it was sapped out of it through Demora's scenes, especially once she got S'task's katra. It would've been cool to learn about it as Sulu did during the story's progression, especially since this is one of those stories that really seems to lose a lot of impact if you haven't read all that much of the TrekLit relating to Vulcans and Romulans. It's great that the writers did all sorts of call outs to various bits of TrekLit, but I think that the reason the first anthology did so well was because you didn't need as much knowledge coming in to the story to get a lot out of it.

 

[Nerys Ghemor]

Oh, make no mistake--I am no fan of that garbage with the DMZ either. Still, I don't think that in the Treklit universe, Macet was necessarily a bad guy, but rather a good guy put in an untenable situation by Central Command and trying to keep it from blowing up into outright war. That certainly seems to be the endorsed take on him based on what we saw in the DS9 relaunch. (That said, based strictly on the episode, your interpretation of Macet's motives makes just as much sense.)

But personally, I still think Riker was unstable and snapped when Macet made that comment.



As for Tears of Eridanus, S'task was a highlight of it to me and getting to meet him again in this form was a real joy as a reader.

 

[Deranged Nasat]

One thing I'm curious to know is whether humanity's population is significantly reduced compared to how it is in the canon universe. Was Earth hindered in its colonization efforts?

Yeah, I was wondering what exactly was humanity's status in this universe, because it seemed a bit odd that there were the two humans on the Kumari, Demora, the humans on the science team, and some mentions of the human TOS crew members... and nothing else.

I suppose it makes sense to have the Human population considerably lower. Given that Humans are quite late to competent interstellar travel, I assume that the only reason they have so many settled planets in the mainstream timeline is because other races preceding them into the wider galaxy didn't want to colonize. Specifically, I imagine most of the Human colony worlds near Earth itself fell under a blanket Vulcan jurisdiction, or at least were unofficially counted part of the Vulcan sphere of influence. It doesn't look like the Vulcans ever used most of these worlds, though. They've always been rather insular, of course, even at the height of the High Command's militaristic period. I suppose they wanted a buffer zone and deterred any expansion from their neighbours without actually claiming the planets in "their" systems. So that presumably left Humans and other "Vulcan Protectorates" the opportunity to spread rather excessively and peacefully. Perhaps canon verse Humans are so numerous because they've unconsciously embraced an expansionist mindset, albeit a peaceful one, and this due to their having been left so many potential colony sites in "Vulcan space"? We know there's a cultural drive for exploration and discovery in Federation Humans - perhaps they feel the "need" to have large families, settle more planets, as a manner of cultural habit. More horizons to push, more "going boldly", etc? It would certainly explain why the Romulans, say, are so wary of Humans and see them as an expansionist threat despite their non-aggression.

(Indeed, with the reform of Vulcan's government under T'Pau, it's often been hinted that they knowingly allowed Humans to take up the burden of expansion, defense and patrol so they could bring themselves closer to a Surakian ideal. So Vulcans might well have "handed over" their old buffer-zone border worlds or outposts to an allied race who wanted them more or would make better use of them?)

In the Tears of Eridanus timeline, I suppose many of the potential Human worlds were instead settled or exploited by Andorians prior to Humanity gaining interstellar travel. So maybe the Human population stabilized and the cultural drive towards expansion never took place. Even if there are more Humans on Earth itself (due to there being fewer mass exoduses), they perhaps have fewer children? No breeding like tribbles to keep up the strangely peaceful march through the stars that defines mainstream Humanity?