Worst Trek book?
- Thread starter Xploda
- Start date
In Australia, our conservative party is called... the Liberal Party.
The hardcover that stymied any more DS9 hardcovers for many more years.
My local bookshop was trying to sell leftover MMPB versions (and even a hardcover) of "Warped" in a $1 bin and a friend wanted to buy one. I stopped her. (Of course, I had paid full price for my hardcover when it first came out.) There is also an abridged audio, which makes it more palatable at only two hours. Narrated by René Auberjonois.
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I still have mine! I bought it before I read the book.
When you flush a toilet in Australia, it goes around the opposite direction, too. It's science.
My "worst book" contribution is either The Price of the Phoenix or The Fate of the Phoenix.
I read both and came away having no clue what happened. The prose is denser than neutronium, and...it's just terrible.
No, it's a myth. It only works on a large scale like with ocean currents or hurricanes, when there's a meaningful difference in the Earth's surface speed from one latitude to another. The width of a toilet bowl, sink, or tub is far too small for any such effect, the claims of hoaxers to the contrary. https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/coriolis-effect/
I was being facetious, haha.
Correct. My US penpal made me demonstrate. Also, our Aussie toilet bowls have hardly any water in the bowl, so it can't "swirl".
Warped is one of the few Star Trek novels I want to reread, because I've always been surprised by how hated it is. It's nobody's idea of a standard Star Trek tie-in novel, but at that point in his career, Jeter wouldn't have been expected to write one. He was known for his Philip K. Dick-influenced and cyberpunk fiction, for naming and damn near inventing steampunk, and for a few cutting edge horror novels. Tie-in readers at the time might not have known his name, Bloodletter aside (which, as a mass market paperback, was much lower profile; his Star Wars and other tie-ins came later), but anyone who read science fiction magazines and news/review magazines like Locus or Science Fiction Chronicle knew who he was. The book was definitely not trying to be a Peter David or Diane Carey novel. It was a hardcover because it was an event novel and the event was Jeter bringing PKD to DS9. Whether that was the kind of event anyone actually wanted, well... I remember mostly liking it but I'd already read a fair amount of Jeter and nearly all of PKD.
A few years ago BBC decided to get big name SF writers to do Doctor Who novels, starting with Michael Moorcock. He wrote a Michael Moorcock novel, not a Terrance Dicks novel. It's about as well loved as Warped. But if you want a standard tie-in novel, your best bet is someone who specializes in them. The BBC big name SF writer line didn't last for long.
A few years ago BBC decided to get big name SF writers to do Doctor Who novels, starting with Michael Moorcock. He wrote a Michael Moorcock novel, not a Terrance Dicks novel. It's about as well loved as Warped. But if you want a standard tie-in novel, your best bet is someone who specializes in them. The BBC big name SF writer line didn't last for long.
I’ve never read a Doctor Who book but I would read a Moorcock Doctor Who book. Multiple people who are the same person dealing with time problems and multiple dimensions? Sounds like a win.
This may also apply to Robert Sheckley's DS9 novel, which is seems to be largely unpopular with Trek fans who may not have wanted a Robert Sheckley novel.
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It ties in much more with the recent Second Ether books than the older Eternal Champion books. I hadn't yet read Blood or the later books so I went in thinking I'd be fine, but I was a bit confused. I can only imagine how anyone who'd never read Moorcock must have thought.
This may also apply to Robert Sheckley's DS9 novel, which is seems to be largely unpopular with Trek fans who not have wanted a Robert Sheckley novel.
I had read a few Sheckley books, but I don't recall caring much for The Laertian Gamble. But I've mainly read his short fiction, I guess.
This may also apply to Robert Sheckley's DS9 novel, which is seems to be largely unpopular with Trek fans who not have wanted a Robert Sheckley novel.
What makes me cringe is when people accuse Sheckley's DS9 novel of being a Douglas Adams ripoff. No -- Adams was the one who was emulating Sheckley's style.
I absolutely loved The Coming of the Terraphiles. It's a strange book — the first quarter of the book is a Wodehouse pastiche — and the Doctor is kept curiously to the side for a while, but it was fun and whimsical and really captured the tone of early Matt Smith.
Sounds harmless. At least mostly harmless.
"Bloodletter" was great! Hence my difficulties with "Warped".
I was very disappointed when slogging through "The Laertian Gamble" when it first came out. I had not read anything else from his back catalogue. (I did love Douglas Adams, though, but not the "Dirk Gently" books.)
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I like Douglas Adams Hitch Hiker to the Galaxy series of books. I read a few of the Dirk Gently books. I didn't really care for them. I saw the Dirk Gently series on PBS a few years ago they were loosely based them on the books. The show was mediocre at best for the 2 seasons I watched on tv. It was okay. I preferred the 2005 Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy movie alot.
Agreed.
Is there a 'best Star Trek novels' thread?
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