Friday, November 28, 2008
Mirror Universe: Obsidian Alliances
Keith RA DeCandido, Peter David, and Sarah Shaw, bring us the Mirror Universe from three different perspectives- Voyager, New Frontier, and Deep Space Nine. This book takes a lot of liberty not just with relationships, but with killing. All of the stories ended with more of the characters dead than alive. There is also a large amount of cruelty in these books, probably a level I have not yet seen in Star Trek books. Do not read if torture or other types of abuse will upset you.
Thursday, November 27, 2008
Star Trek 101 by Erdmann and Block
Star Trek 101 by Terry J Erdmann and Paula M Block, is listed as "A Practical Guide to Who, What, Where and Why". True to it's name, ST 101 assumes you know nothing about Star Trek and goes from there. There are brief articles on the fundamentals of everything from Klingons to Captain Proton.
My favorite feature of this book is the "Spock's Brain Award", which ranks the stupidest episode of each series.
Even if you feel you could have written all the articles form memory, this is a great resource for it's chronological synopsis of every episode. I will be unhappy when the library wants it back, as we almost daily turn to it to answer questions that start with "What was that episode....?"
My favorite feature of this book is the "Spock's Brain Award", which ranks the stupidest episode of each series.
Even if you feel you could have written all the articles form memory, this is a great resource for it's chronological synopsis of every episode. I will be unhappy when the library wants it back, as we almost daily turn to it to answer questions that start with "What was that episode....?"
Sunday, November 9, 2008
Book: TNG: Greater than The Sum
The latest book in the continuation of the story of the Enterprise E crew, post Nemesis. Read by both myself and Matthew, Christopher Bennet's book was a quick read, and enjoyable. This is another Borg story, one that brings Hugh back into the picture with his band of liberated Borg. The story brings an intriguing concept to the idea of what constitutes intelligence, and the tricky nature of managing first contact with an intelligence that is vastly different than humanoids.
It also introduces a new character, and half human, half Vulcan science officer ( now, that's original!) named T'ryssa Chen. Chen, unlike other half Vulcan characters, has embraced her human side. I did feel Bennet went to far, made her TOO over the top, to show how mush she disdained her Vulcan half. People ONLY act like that in stories.
Matthew especially liked the assimilated Federation ship nicknamed "Frankenstein" by Chen.
It also introduces a new character, and half human, half Vulcan science officer ( now, that's original!) named T'ryssa Chen. Chen, unlike other half Vulcan characters, has embraced her human side. I did feel Bennet went to far, made her TOO over the top, to show how mush she disdained her Vulcan half. People ONLY act like that in stories.
Matthew especially liked the assimilated Federation ship nicknamed "Frankenstein" by Chen.
Monday, November 3, 2008
Enterprise: Kobyashi Maru By Martin and Mangels
I am usually a fan of Michael Martin and Andy Mangels, but I will say I found this book a bit slow. Not a bad story..but it took me over a month to read it (although Charlaine Harris is at least partly to blame for that).
Any fan of Star Trek knows what the Kobyashi Maru is- a no win test that command level cadets at Starfleet Academy must take in which they must decide whether, or how, to rescue a Federation freighter under attck my Romulans. This book looks at the origins of that test, casting the maru as a real ship manned by real, unusual and flamboyant people ( of the type it's hard to imagine survivin into the Next Gen era Federation)- and of course, with Jonathon Archer as the captain who must make the hard decision.
Any fan of Star Trek knows what the Kobyashi Maru is- a no win test that command level cadets at Starfleet Academy must take in which they must decide whether, or how, to rescue a Federation freighter under attck my Romulans. This book looks at the origins of that test, casting the maru as a real ship manned by real, unusual and flamboyant people ( of the type it's hard to imagine survivin into the Next Gen era Federation)- and of course, with Jonathon Archer as the captain who must make the hard decision.
Friday, October 17, 2008
Myriad Universes: Places of Exile and Seeds of Dissent
Places of Exile by Christopher L Bennett is the middle novella in Infinity's Prism. There are a lot of great things about alternate universe stories, as I have mentioned before. Of course there is a down side ( there is always a downside). Working in an alternate reality give the mad shippers room to let loose, and outside of fanfiction.net or livejournal. This can be wonderful or infuriating depending on you feelings on the matter- if you're a Janeway/Chakotay or Harry/7 shipper, you'll love this story.
Places of Exile starts during the episode "Scorpion"- but diverges. Species 8472 disables Voyager, forcing Janeway to make compromises and alliances. Alomg the way, she and the other surviving crew members change from the goal of getting home to one of making home. Sometimes I had to raise an eyebrow at how some of the characters act- especially the "alternate" Annika/7. No woman would have written her that way.
Seeds of Dissent by James Swallow follows the classic "What if Hitler had won" with Hitler being Khan-premise. This is a fairly well written look at how the world might have looked if the Augments had won. Swallow does try to jam too many characters from too many series into the story, and it seems a bit contrived.
Places of Exile starts during the episode "Scorpion"- but diverges. Species 8472 disables Voyager, forcing Janeway to make compromises and alliances. Alomg the way, she and the other surviving crew members change from the goal of getting home to one of making home. Sometimes I had to raise an eyebrow at how some of the characters act- especially the "alternate" Annika/7. No woman would have written her that way.
Seeds of Dissent by James Swallow follows the classic "What if Hitler had won" with Hitler being Khan-premise. This is a fairly well written look at how the world might have looked if the Augments had won. Swallow does try to jam too many characters from too many series into the story, and it seems a bit contrived.
Monday, October 13, 2008
Myriad Universes: A Less Perfect Union
William Leisner's tale of an alternate TOS era timelime is the first novella in "Infinity's Prism". IN case I haven't said it before- I love " alternate timeline" stories. It has been said ( and I am thinking of Ursula K LeGuin when I say this, although she may have been quoting another) the the basic premise of any sci-fi story is, "What if?" Alternate time lines in an established sci-fi universe are like "What if- what if?" Sci-fi, supersized.
This story takes place in a timeline where Earth never joined the Federation, meaning Christopher Pike never went to Talos IV, and Kirk never rose above XO. T'Pol remained on Earth, but in hiding , as anti- alien sentiment runs rampant. Perhaps the best part, for me, is the way the story "explains" the fact that the Romulan commander from "Balance of Terror" just happens to look like Sarek- and what could happen if they meet.
This story takes place in a timeline where Earth never joined the Federation, meaning Christopher Pike never went to Talos IV, and Kirk never rose above XO. T'Pol remained on Earth, but in hiding , as anti- alien sentiment runs rampant. Perhaps the best part, for me, is the way the story "explains" the fact that the Romulan commander from "Balance of Terror" just happens to look like Sarek- and what could happen if they meet.
Saturday, October 4, 2008
Book: SCE: Aftermath
This time I will look at the first three novellas in the Corps of Engineers anthology, "Aftermath", which collects stories previously published as e-books.
First is the title story, written by Christopher L. Bennett. The da Vinci is just out of dry dock after a disaster nearly destroyed her and took the lives of many of the crew. Captain David Gold , Commander Sonya Gomez, and a mix of old and new crew members must investigate a seeming explosion in a San Fransisco just recovering from the previous year's Breen attack. What the crew finds is a first contact situation, and a dispute between two cultures and within a culture.
In the second story, "Ishtar Rising", the crew has yet to get out of the Sol system for any amount of time. The da Vinci is called to help an old friend of Captain Gold's with his terraforming project on Venus. Several types of project brew, with the project ( it wouldn't be an SCE book if they didn't have to stave off imminent disaster) and when the ship's Bynar crewmember, Soloman, has to deal with bigotry from project Ishtar's resident Bynars. Authors- the ever popular Michael A Martin and Andy Mangels.
Robert Greenburger's "Buying Time", is, naturally, a time travel story. The da Vinci is dispatched to investigate an area of space disrupted by chroniton waves. They find a tie machine on the verge of collapse and a Ferengi with the lobes to know time travel is the best way to play the market. I do have some problems with this story- otherwise self respecting female crew members rubbing the lobes of and Ferengi that will help them achieve their goal- but otherwise enjoyable.
First is the title story, written by Christopher L. Bennett. The da Vinci is just out of dry dock after a disaster nearly destroyed her and took the lives of many of the crew. Captain David Gold , Commander Sonya Gomez, and a mix of old and new crew members must investigate a seeming explosion in a San Fransisco just recovering from the previous year's Breen attack. What the crew finds is a first contact situation, and a dispute between two cultures and within a culture.
In the second story, "Ishtar Rising", the crew has yet to get out of the Sol system for any amount of time. The da Vinci is called to help an old friend of Captain Gold's with his terraforming project on Venus. Several types of project brew, with the project ( it wouldn't be an SCE book if they didn't have to stave off imminent disaster) and when the ship's Bynar crewmember, Soloman, has to deal with bigotry from project Ishtar's resident Bynars. Authors- the ever popular Michael A Martin and Andy Mangels.
Robert Greenburger's "Buying Time", is, naturally, a time travel story. The da Vinci is dispatched to investigate an area of space disrupted by chroniton waves. They find a tie machine on the verge of collapse and a Ferengi with the lobes to know time travel is the best way to play the market. I do have some problems with this story- otherwise self respecting female crew members rubbing the lobes of and Ferengi that will help them achieve their goal- but otherwise enjoyable.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)