Things you can’t STAND about Trek novels

[JD]

J.M. Dillard did a similar thing in her novelization of Star Trek VI, where she was sticking in all sorts of extra, unnecessary things to "justify" Kirk's prejudice against Klingons in the movie, which I though missed the point of that subplot rather spectacularly.

I can kind of see that being at least a little bit more justifiable than Diane Carey's behavior with Broken Bow, since some people see Kirk's behavior as out of character. I'll admit it might be a bit, but I like the rest of the movie enough that I'm willing to overlook it.

 

[diankra]

Yeah, it probably depends on the individual. I use my real first name but wouldn't want to put my whole name here (part of it is I have a bit of a longish last name and it would just be a pain to everyone else probably). I actually use my first name on a Notre Dame blog I frequent as well (yep, I like consistency in my real life too).

I use my real first name because, well, I'm too lazy to try to create a username. It's easier.

But I avoid using my last name because I do like a bit of anonymity. I think I'd be a bit more hesitant to post my honest opinion if I used my whole name. I usually avoid controversial topics here and I don't flame people or intentionally insult people but still. I feel a bit more free to express myself if I have just a bit of anonymity.

When I came on here, if I'd used my name people might have thought my comments were official statements from the day job (as an editor), which they weren't.

 

[Greg Cox]

When I came on here, if I'd used my name people might have thought my comments were official statements from the day job (as an editor), which they weren't.

Know the feeling. Back in the day, I used to use a pseudonym on the old DC boards because I just wanted to be able to gab freely about comics books without having to constantly state that my views did not represent the views of DC comics, who I was writing a series of novelizations for.

 

[Therin of Andor]

Did any TOS have complicated alien names?

In the "USS Enterprise Officers' Manual", Spock's family name is XTMPRSZNTWLFD. This related back to a joke by DC Fontana at an early Trek convention panel, IIRC.

The first original Pocket novel, "The Entropy Effect" by Vonda McIntyre, introduced Jenniver Aristeides and a felinoid alien, Snnanagfashtalli (aka Snarl), who was described as "a two-legged leopard with maroon, scarlet and cream colored fur, and ruby colored fangs". She was then used by Janet Kagan (in "Uhura's Song") and AC Crispin (for "Time for Yesterday").

I thought I remembered her preferring to be on all fours. But that was the felinoid alien I assumed McIntyre intended the same species as Snarl in her ST III novelisation. A Merchantman crew member, Farrendahl was warned to evacuate the ship with her friend Tran, just before Kruge destroyed the ship (and Valkris) and the rest of its crew.

McIntyre also had Hazarstennaj (aka Hazard), a felinoid Starfleet officer, who met and began a relationship (in "Enterprise: The First Adventure") with one of the traveling entertainers, Tzesnashstennaj, a member of her own species.

 

[Therin of Andor]

"Padding" instead of walking. I don't remember which one, but one of the books had that word in it at least fifty times, and it felt like five hundred.

Yep. And one early Pocket had "Kirk came on the bridge...", "Uhura came on the bridge..." and "McCoy came onto the bridge..." way too often.

That’s what I’ve never understood about this site.. Why have a username? Why not use your real name?

'Cos I used to hang out at Psi Phi's BBS and everyone there seemed to have a pseudonym, and then I followed many of them over to here and wanted them to know it was me!

 

[Damian]

When I came on here, if I'd used my name people might have thought my comments were official statements from the day job (as an editor), which they weren't.

Yeah, for some there's probably a very good reason for using an alternate user ID.

For me, I don't have any such worries--and frankly I'm not aware of anyone I know that comes on trekbbs. But I just find a bit more free to express my opinions if I don't use my full name. And I'm sure some people create a pseudonym because they can and maybe they always wanted to be called by a Klingon or Jem'Hadar name.

 

[DonIago]

Though, there may be cases where maybe people should be compelled to use their real name as a means of limiting just how free they feel they are to express their opinions.

 

[David cgc]

And I'm going to claim this is OT because . . . David Gerrold.

As they say on Twitter, I was "today" years old when it occurred to me that, while I normally see "OT" used to mean "off-topic," "on-topic" has the exact same initials.

 

[EnriqueH]

Gee, nothing makes me want to quit reading a book more than seeing a whole bunch of boring mono- and duo-syllabic names.......

lol. I went to a writing/journalism seminar and I’ll never forget a veteran reporter’s words, “The easiest thing for the reader to do is quit reading.”

 

[Enterprise1701]

I am multilingual and have no relatives in the USA. Thus, I have no loyalty to 'typical' English names alone. It is quite amusing to see Yanks pass judgement on what constitutes 'understanding' on planet Earth.

 

[Stevil2001]

I used to use my real name on here, but decided that if students randomly googled me, I'd rather them not find the top thing being me arguing over Star Trek minutia. It's no secret who I really am, but this keeps it casually separated from my "real" identity.

 

[Thrawn]

That’s exactly the reason I have a pseudonym.

 

[Agony_Boothb]

"Padding" instead of walking. I don't remember which one, but one of the books had that word in it at least fifty times, and it felt like five hundred.

David Mack's overuse of the word 'mien' in the Destiny trilogy (i think) did it for me. It was like he had just discovered the word, thought it was cool and wanted to use it as much as possible.

 

[FreddyE]

When I first read Harry Potter I didn't know how to pronounce "Hermione."

I read the first part in german...where she is called "Hermine"...which is a name that provokes the mental image of some little old grandma...

 

[FreddyE]

Actually, I think that was me. And, yes, it's happened to me more than once.

"Um, I just thought it would look cool in print."

More recently, though, the audio people will often ask you to submit a pronunciation guide, which forces you to figure it out.

Oh yes...please please please be kind to us voice actors and avoid unpronouncable names or names that are too long. A pronunciation guide is really helpful.

 

[DonIago]

Funny that this has come up.

I wrote lyrics for a song which was then composed by someone else and sang by a third person. When the composer sent me the completed song for review I was hearing what sounded like a two-second glitch of some sort. It turned out the singer hadn't pronounced a word the way it was intended to be pronounced, which added an extra syllable and threw him briefly out of phase with the music.

It actually caused a bit of frustration, because I think the composer was all set to consider the project done and move onto other things, but with the situation as it was the only fix was going to be to have the singer redo their vocals, which could mess with the music as well. In the end it was a minor enough hiccup for a minor enough project that I said to move ahead with it, but the composer said he may have a chance to remaster the song later on, and if so I hope he'll address that.

 

[Stevil2001]

When I first read Harry Potter I didn't know how to pronounce "Hermione."

Lots of people clearly didn't, as there's a scene in book 4 that's there just to clarify it. I had read the books aloud to kids I babysat, and when Hermione complained to Krum her name wasn't pronounced "her-MEE-own" that was when I learned it too.

 

[KRAD]

People routinely mispronounce my last name. Correcting it has become second nature after 50 years.......

 

[KRAD]

^ Related to that, two old Spider-Man anthologies that I have stories in were recently released on audio. One reader pronounced my name right, the other did not.

Oh, and for the record, it's "de-CAN-di-do."

 

[DonIago]

Thanks for that! I think I would have been one of the many to get it wrong, as I've always figured it was "de-can-DEE-do."