Text 35, 80 rader
Skriven 2004-08-07 23:40:00 av Kevin Karmann (1:278/230)
Ärende: Novel:
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TROY CHEEK wrote on 31 Jul 2004
>A guy at work knew I was a Trek fan and asked about Trek novels recently,
>and I realized that I couldn't remember the last time I bought one.  It
>seemed like every new Trek novel I found in the bookstore was part of a
>huge new series or crossover or threw together characters from 3 different
>TV series.  I like the occasional epic, but for the average Trek book, I
>prefer something that reads like a really good standard episode.  Sure,
>throw in characters or events that couldn't be shown cheaply enough on
>series television, but don't go off into the wild blue yonder.

Well, there have been a few, but certainly not a great deal.   I've heard
good things about THE CASE OF THE COLONIST'S CORPSE: A SAMUEL COGLEY
MYSTERY, focusing on the book reading lawyer from TOS' "Court Martial."
Granted, other familiar characters (including Kirk) play only a supporting
role, but it is completely self-contained.  Sort of Matlock in space.  :-)

And while they *sound* something like a multi-part series, THE WORLDS OF
DEEP SPACE NINE (Voulume One being the only one on the shelfs so far), each
book takes a close look at individual cultures in the DS9 relaunch pantheon
(Cardassia and Andor in the first book) through two self-contained
novelettes that are, admitedly, fueled by the DS9 novel relaunch continuity.

There was also THE LAST ROUNDUP, a TOS novel set after ST VI, but before
GENERATIONS.

Looking toward the future, the novel that stands out as being a most
standalone story would be the TOS novel scheduled for January, EX MACHINA
that follows up on the events of the V'Ger probe in TMP.

While I do think the current Trek novels are, in general, better than ones
of a few years ago -- especially since Paramount as lightened up on the
reins and allowed much more freedom to the writers, I do have to wonder if
some of these multi-part stories couldn't be put into one novel (or even
weren't forced to expand into two books).  For example, I could see the
current TNG "A Time to..." series that has four two-book stories and a
single novel conclusion as being sold as simply five novels.   Most of the
"A Time to..." novels are only 250 or so pages long and, while 500 pages is
a bit long for a single book, it wouldn't be unheard of -- especially since
the font size seems to be bigger than some.

>I'm sure that if there isn't already, there will eventually be a book
>series where the ENT crew awakes some ancient evil and barely escapes, the
>TOS crew blasts it into the future, the TNG crew fights it off from
>destroying Earth, the DS9 crew tosses it into a space warp, and then the
>VOY crew finally kills it.

That would THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD, a two book series that spanned all the
different Trek series and teamed up various crews with others we've met over
the years.    In a short prelude, Archer's crew comes across information
about ancient alien machines -- the Malkus artifacts -- that have galactic
scale power.   Following that, four novelettes (over the two-part book
series) go into how each of the various other crews deal with encountering
each of the devices.   Kirk's crew has to team with Matt Decker's crew
(prior to "The Doomsday Machine," of course) to battle the first artifact.
In the second story, the U.S.S. Odyssey (destroyed in DS9's "The Jem'Hadar")
has to aid the DS9 crew when another one of the devices falls into the hands
of Bajoran terrorist.   In the second novel, we're told the story of how
Tuvok infiltrated the Maquis while Janeway, Chakotay, Cal Hudson (of DS9's
"The Maquis"), Captain Desoto (of the U.S.S. Hood who appeared in a TNG
episode), et al have to react to another of the Malkus devices being in the
hands of a more radical Maquis member.    The final novella teams up
Ambassadors Spock and Worf, as well the crews of the Enterprise-E and the
I.K.S. Gorkon to battle it out with the last device.   It isn't a bad
two-novel series, IMHO, but I do agree that too many of these "events" can
kind of make them seem, well, ordinary.

Kevin






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