Titan's Sword of Damocles

[Trent Roman]

Reactions to this book always surprise me. I found it very grokkable (which, I realize, is of no help to those who didn't). It seemed to me that the way the narrative structure plays around with time is almost a kind of preperation for the way the storyline will engage with time, puts you in the right mindframe (the way, say, Q's timeshifting of Picard in "All Good Things..." puts him in the right conceptual space to grasp the anti-time anomaly). I'm also surprised that people find the style off-putting. I've had more than one editor encourage me to write like that--in short, directed bursts--rather than the more languid, multi-clausal sentences my Gallic heritage favours. It's pushed far more than your usual Trek novel--serrated prose, you might say--but compliments the ragged, wounded atmosphere of the story nicely.

Fictitiously yours, Trent Roman

 

[Nerys Ghemor]

But I loved untangling it, I had a blast figuring out how it all came together. Whining that a book is making you think seems a little low to me.

I'm not whining about having to think. I can do THAT, and enjoy it...as with the works cited above, and also with books like the Destiny series or The Wounded Sky, in the Trek world. But if the book is written in such a way that I don't CARE to engage with it to that degree--if it has nothing compelling in that part of the plotline--or I feel that the construction is lacking, I think that is absolutely a legitimate criticism.

 

[Geoff Thorne]

Well. I'm going to be eating [expletive deleted] for the Celenthe typos for the rest of my Trek life. We all missed it and I take the blame because I'm the one who misspelled the damned thing.

I'm glad people liked the Jaza/Dakal stuff even when they didn't necessarily go for the rest. I love both those characters.

Marco gave all of us a lot of leeway with these books. He intended, I think, for them to be as idiosyncratic as the crew of Titan. He told me specifically to "write my book" and not try to pattern myself after what had gone before or ape the work of a particular writer. I wanted to write a book that happened to be Star Trek, rather than write a "Star Trek book." By definition, that approach can put some people off.

I think, between us TITAN writers, we've carved out as unique a Trek niche as the New Frontier, Vanguard, SCE and Klingon books have. I think that was the intent. There is no Trek crew I love more. Seriously.

I think we knew this would be a somewhat polarizing book as soon as Marco approved the whacky time jumping as well as the reason for it so I expected that some would absolutely hate it.

That's fine. As long as you gave it a fair shake, I respect all views. You paid your money and that buys you an opinion.

 

[DonIago]

Good to hear from you Geoff. I'd certainly give your other work a shot, but I have to admit I'd probably be happier with something less...er...stylized. That's more of a comment on my tastes than on your writing.

 

[captcalhoun]

gotta say, i liked it. it was different, but i enjoyed it. recently re-read it, as i'm re-reading the series and still liked it.

's a good book. not my favourite (still Orion's Hounds) but definitely not the worst (Red King, I'm looking at you).