Underappreciated TrekLit
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If you don't mind, I'm very quickly going to address both the digression AND the actual thread topic and suggest that those discussing NuKirk read Della Van Hise's "Killing Time" (#24). It was really good (or at least, it was when I read it in high school), and the characterization of Kirk in it partially prepared me to accept NuKirk, and to see the classic Kirk that we know hiding inside of him.
And I now return you to your regularly scheduled programming.
If you don't mind, I'm very quickly going to address both the digression AND the actual thread topic and suggest that those discussing NuKirk read Della Van Hise's "Killing Time" (#24). It was really good (or at least, it was when I read it in high school), and the characterization of Kirk in it partially prepared me to accept NuKirk, and to see the classic Kirk that we know hiding inside of him.
And I now return you to your regularly scheduled programming.
I really love Killing Time. It's a neat AU with a real passion for the characters.
It's worth pointing out that there are two versions of the book and it's not easy to figure out with a casual thumb thru which version you're getting. Van Hise's original draft of the book had some subtext that Kirk and Spock have romantic feelings for each other. It's all subtext so you can overlook it if you want. She did a less subtext-y rewrite but then the publishers accidently published the gayer version in the first print run. It's also not as jarring to non slash fans as most of the story is in an AU anyways.
I recommend it as a fun unorthodox romp.
Cool - I did not know this about the book. I'm fairly certain I had/have the "gayer" version - or at least if I don't, I'd have a hard time imagining a gayer version than what I have getting approved by the Trek powers that be, because the subtext is pretty heavy in it.If you don't mind, I'm very quickly going to address both the digression AND the actual thread topic and suggest that those discussing NuKirk read Della Van Hise's "Killing Time" (#24). It was really good (or at least, it was when I read it in high school), and the characterization of Kirk in it partially prepared me to accept NuKirk, and to see the classic Kirk that we know hiding inside of him.
And I now return you to your regularly scheduled programming.
I really love Killing Time. It's a neat AU with a real passion for the characters.
It's worth pointing out that there are two versions of the book and it's not easy to figure out with a casual thumb thru which version you're getting. Van Hise's original draft of the book had some subtext that Kirk and Spock have romantic feelings for each other. It's all subtext so you can overlook it if you want. She did a less subtext-y rewrite but then the publishers accidently published the gayer version in the first print run. It's also not as jarring to non slash fans as most of the story is in an AU anyways.
I recommend it as a fun unorthodox romp.
The original version is the one with the title on the cover like this:
KILLING
TIME
The re-edited version has the title all on one line: KILLING TIME
KILLING
TIME
The re-edited version has the title all on one line: KILLING TIME
Here's some information from fanlore.org. It does conform to the two copies of the book I have, so I think they are reliable issue points:
Some quick text checks to know if you have the original, uncensored edition:
1. The book is printed in 1985 (not after that). 2. The letters on the cover are embossed. 3. Page 41 has a paragraph that contains the sentence “I understand that you were probably playing with dolls and wearing lipstick until you were twenty!”
The first printing has embossed gold text for the title. For most second and additional print-runs of th day, the foil and the embossing were dropped. ie. yellow, unembossed text. (I hadn't noticed they also reformatted the title on this one!)
Page 41 of the first printing is the only one that has a paragraph that contains the sentence “I understand that you were probably playing with dolls and wearing lipstick until you were twenty!”
More info:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing_Time_%28Star_Trek_novel%29
Van Hise's open letter:
http://fanlore.org/wiki/Open_Letter_by_Della_Van_Hise_Regarding_"Killing_Time"
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Bibliomike said:
Perhaps the only definitive way to be sure is to check the quote on page 41. I have a copy that has a plain yellow (no foil), unembossed title... but it still has the quote as indicated on page 41.
First printing, printed in Canada. (Perhaps that accounts for the difference?)
My version does have the title split into two lines, though.
(It is exceedingly difficult trying to photograph the inside of a book!
)
^ Well done! You have found a new variation.
Yes, the Pocket novels used to be "Printed in Canada" for the Canadian buyers - and usually carried a little maple leaf on the front cover. (My Sydney-based friend once came back from a Canadian trip with a "Web of the Romulans" Canadian printing, complete with little maple leaf, long before US stock of that book arrived in Australia by sea freight!)
Looks like Canada's first printing of "Killing Time" had the cover art of later US printings but the internal text from the same file as the controversial US first printing.
I remember the first time I realized that US second-printings dropped the foil and the embossing. My local comic shop got in some US air-freighted copies of "Deep Domain", and I pounced on copies for myself and a few friends. "Awwww, no more gold embossing," I thought.
A few months later, sea-freighted copies started turning up in local stores - with gold embossing! Yes, they were first printings, dispatched earlier, but the fast-tracked ones were from an emergency "back to the presses" reprint, when pre-orders had overrun th initial print-run - and I hadn't noticed the numbering inside. I donated my unfoiled copy to a charity auction and bought anew.
Yes, the Pocket novels used to be "Printed in Canada" for the Canadian buyers - and usually carried a little maple leaf on the front cover. (My Sydney-based friend once came back from a Canadian trip with a "Web of the Romulans" Canadian printing, complete with little maple leaf, long before US stock of that book arrived in Australia by sea freight!)
Looks like Canada's first printing of "Killing Time" had the cover art of later US printings but the internal text from the same file as the controversial US first printing.
I remember the first time I realized that US second-printings dropped the foil and the embossing. My local comic shop got in some US air-freighted copies of "Deep Domain", and I pounced on copies for myself and a few friends. "Awwww, no more gold embossing," I thought.
A few months later, sea-freighted copies started turning up in local stores - with gold embossing! Yes, they were first printings, dispatched earlier, but the fast-tracked ones were from an emergency "back to the presses" reprint, when pre-orders had overrun th initial print-run - and I hadn't noticed the numbering inside. I donated my unfoiled copy to a charity auction and bought anew.
I just finished knocking out "Starfleet: Year One". I've been curious about this book ever since hearing about it, because I like some of the unique TOS Novels and this one stood out because it was overwritten by Enterprise. Gotta say, light of a read as it was, the content interested me more than Enterprise's premise. The generally unspoken conflict between the goals of Starfleet- military and scientific- is front and center in a way I've never seen depicted. Early starfleet is also interesting.
My only disappointment is in spite of the Daedalus on the cover, the story is all about setting up the crew of the Daedalus. I would have loved to see a Starfleet Year Two... more than the idea of re-watching Enterprise.
My only disappointment is in spite of the Daedalus on the cover, the story is all about setting up the crew of the Daedalus. I would have loved to see a Starfleet Year Two... more than the idea of re-watching Enterprise.
Check out "A Choice of Futures"; that's a pretty prominent theme running through the whole book. Thus the title, really. (The entire "Rise of the Federation" series has it to a degree, but it's front and center there.)
Well, it wouldn't have been a file back then; it would've been... well... whatever they used for typesetting before publishing went digital. Printing plates?
If I remember right, John Ordover indicated a Starfleet: Year Two tale was possible until Enterprise came along.
[pedantry]Depending on when and how she actually wrote it, it could have been a file - in WordStar, Apple Writer, AtariWriter, or maybe Paperclip. Don't know if the publishers would have taken it that way, though.[/pedantry]
Good grief I'm an old nerd.
Edit: Looking at a history of prepress that I found, it looks the first typesetting computer was introduced in 1963. So it very likely *would* have been a file, at least at the publishers - probably on 5 1/4 or 3 1/2 inch floppy. No idea whether van Hise give them a disk or a typed submission to kick things off, though. But the publishers apparently even had decent OCR at that point, if the latter!
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Am I the only one bothered by the overuse of the title "Year One" in various franchises for any and every story dealing with the beginning of something?
With "Batman: Year One," the phrase was associated with something great and unique. But now "Year One" has become a generic catchphrase for all prequels.
Kor
With "Batman: Year One," the phrase was associated with something great and unique. But now "Year One" has become a generic catchphrase for all prequels.
Kor
[pedantry]Depending on when and how she actually wrote it, it could have been a file - in WordStar, Apple Writer, AtariWriter, or maybe Paperclip. Don't know if the publishers would have taken it that way, though.[/pedantry]
Good grief I'm an old nerd.
Edit: Looking at a history of prepress that I found, it looks the first typesetting computer was introduced in 1963. So it very likely *would* have been a file, at least at the publishers - probably on 5 1/4 or 3 1/2 inch floppy. No idea whether van Hise give them a disk or a typed submission to kick things off, though. But the publishers apparently even had decent OCR at that point, if the latter!
When I first started working in publishing, around 1987 or so, most everything was still done on paper. Authors delivered hard-copy manuscripts, which were edited with red pencils and Post-It notes, before finally being transmitted from Editorial to Production to be typeset. And nobody in Editorial had a computer in their office or cubicle with which to read "files." We were all still using electric typewriters back then.
Not sure how the actual typesetting was done. That was another department . . . ..
You'd certainly know better than I. But here's the site I was looking at:[pedantry]Depending on when and how she actually wrote it, it could have been a file - in WordStar, Apple Writer, AtariWriter, or maybe Paperclip. Don't know if the publishers would have taken it that way, though.[/pedantry]
Good grief I'm an old nerd.
Edit: Looking at a history of prepress that I found, it looks the first typesetting computer was introduced in 1963. So it very likely *would* have been a file, at least at the publishers - probably on 5 1/4 or 3 1/2 inch floppy. No idea whether van Hise give them a disk or a typed submission to kick things off, though. But the publishers apparently even had decent OCR at that point, if the latter!
When I first started working in publishing, around 1987 or so, most everything was still done on paper. Authors delivered hard-copy manuscripts, which were edited with red pencils and Post-It notes, before finally being transmitted from Editorial to Production to be typeset. And nobody in Editorial had a computer in their office or cubicle with which to read "files." We were all still using electric typewriters back then.
Not sure how the actual typesetting was done. That was another department . . . ..
http://www.prepressure.com/prepress/history/events-1950-1959
In 1979, I sat next to a typesetter friend and watched my raw handwritten and typed pages for a college yearbook get typed into a typesetter, and the finished data generated a long ribbon of hole-punched paper, which was then printed onto photosensitive paper rolls. Corrections could be made, which generated a a long ribbon of hole-punched paper, then another print-out on a photosensitive paper roll. (That were able to be cut up and "pasted up" onto A3 sheets.)
If her data wasn't called "a file", I couldn't think of another term, but I assumed that this paper roll, or the electronic version of it in the typesetting machine, would be what got stored or sent overseas by mail or Telex, to create later "printings" of the book.
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