Strange New Worlds volume ten
Posted: Sun Jul 29, 2007 11:19 pm
I just got the book and enjoyed Hopeful Romantic’s story! It was very good. I read it, of all places, while in line to buy the last Harry Potter book at Barns and Noble at midnight of the change over from July 20-21. My daughter and grandkids could not wait to get their hands on the two copies of the Potter book I had reserved for them. They kept pushing me “Grandma, the line is moving. Get your nose out of that other book and pay attention so nobody skips ahead of us in line!”
Warning: the following sentence contains a spoiler for HR’s story.
But I was off in the ST universe in that Harry Potter line. HR’s story seemed to have a theme like in the movie “It’s a Wonderful Life” - an angel trying to give Trip a reason to retain his hold on life. I guessed that the ‘angel’ was Sim before that was revealed. The dream part was very satisfying, Sim and Lizzie being happy together in the afterlife. Then it was sad that Trip did not remember the dream. Very nicely done, HR!
It would be nice if HR could get a novel contract from Pocket Books, since they are still publishing ST novels. But Pocket Books has cut down to about half of the number they used to put out each year. Still, it would be nice to see some of the SNW authors break into the novel venue.
Other than HR’s story, I have only read the three winning stories so far. I have a mixed reaction to the stories that rated first, second, and third place. Perhaps I am a poor judge of literature, but I would not have chosen two out of those three of these stories as the winners. Now I respect Dean Wesley Smith’s work as editor of the anthology. And he has been very kind to me, putting five of my own stories in his second read pile (180) out of the four thousand submitted. Then, encouraging me personally in messages on his writer’s board. But despite my debt to him, I must complain that I do not understand why he chose two of these winning stories. Maybe someone else could explain to me why these stories are worthy of the placing they received? Here is my reaction to them:
1st place story: The Smell of Dead Roses by Gerri Leen
Perhaps I do not like this story very much because I do not like the character ‘Perrin’, who is Sarek’s second wife. I found her obnoxious in the TNG episode ‘Sarek’. Also, in one published anthology, in a story by a well known author, this author did not seem to like her much either, thereby cementing my opinion.
The story is a series of scenes that spans Perrin’s life from childhood up to the time of Sarek’s death. Although the author gave Perrin a difficult childhood, I could not sympathize with the character. I especially disliked it when Perrin, as an adult, slams her apartment door in her mother’s face when the mother comes to Perrin for help. There was no resolution to the situation with her mother. Perrin just moves on to marry Sarek and move to Vulcan. The story ends with Perrin realizing that she is on her own again now that she is loosing her husband and mentor. Kind of a depressing ending, in a way, but I think it was trying to show that Perrin is a strong character. It did not work for me. I still don’t care about the character.
I did like Saavik in this story in her attempt to console Perrin. But I thought the story gave Spock short shrift. I think it was a missed opportunity to explore the Perrin/Spock relationship more deeply, especially since Perrin was portrayed as being grateful to Amanda for being kind to her in a chance meeting when Perrin was a child.
We see in this story, Perrin as a child meeting Amanda shortly before her death. I think it is a stretch to have them meet as one hundred years had passed since we last saw Amanda in one of the TOS movies, and the TNG episode with Perrin where Sarek was 201 years old. Perrin in the episode seemed to be in early middle age. Even if Humans lived 120 years at this time, Perrin could not have been born before Amanda died. Just my humble opinion. What do other people think of this story?
2nd place story: Echos by Randy Tatano
There were references that I did not understand in this story, even though I have seen every episode in every Star Trek series at least once. So I did not ‘get’ this story and was frustrated with it and bored. I don’t see why it placed in the top three. This has happened to me with a few other SNW stories. It makes me feel stupid. But then, I focus in on some aspects in the episodes and let others I am not interested in just roll by me. I suppose that if I re-watch every episode with a critical eye like Rigil and KTR do, instead of purely for enjoyment, I might pick up the references. So if any one wants to lay the meaning of this story out so I can say “Oh NOW I get it!” I would be grateful.
3rd place story: Universal Chord by Carolyn Winifred
The writing at the beginning of the story seems choppy. Short choppy sentences. This may have been an attempt to project the alien viewpoint. Not the greatest hook, but sticking with it, the story became a delightful view of a music concert through T’Pol’s perception as a Vulcan newly assigned to a Terran post. The description of the music was amazing – you could almost hear it. The interaction of the musicians with T’Pol after the concert was well done. And using words like “defaced” for “autograph” were well chosen to show an alien attempt to understand what was going on in Human culture.
I thought this story deserved its third place award.
I am still reading the stories and I know I will find some that I am absolutely enchanted with. There will be others that I say “meh” too. I always find these SNW anthologies to be a ‘mixed bag’. They are meant to be a balanced selection across the various series and ST movies. I enjoy that. It is a real shame that this is the last anthology, leaving fan fic writers to carry on alone with new tales from the ST universe.
Warning: the following sentence contains a spoiler for HR’s story.
But I was off in the ST universe in that Harry Potter line. HR’s story seemed to have a theme like in the movie “It’s a Wonderful Life” - an angel trying to give Trip a reason to retain his hold on life. I guessed that the ‘angel’ was Sim before that was revealed. The dream part was very satisfying, Sim and Lizzie being happy together in the afterlife. Then it was sad that Trip did not remember the dream. Very nicely done, HR!
It would be nice if HR could get a novel contract from Pocket Books, since they are still publishing ST novels. But Pocket Books has cut down to about half of the number they used to put out each year. Still, it would be nice to see some of the SNW authors break into the novel venue.
Other than HR’s story, I have only read the three winning stories so far. I have a mixed reaction to the stories that rated first, second, and third place. Perhaps I am a poor judge of literature, but I would not have chosen two out of those three of these stories as the winners. Now I respect Dean Wesley Smith’s work as editor of the anthology. And he has been very kind to me, putting five of my own stories in his second read pile (180) out of the four thousand submitted. Then, encouraging me personally in messages on his writer’s board. But despite my debt to him, I must complain that I do not understand why he chose two of these winning stories. Maybe someone else could explain to me why these stories are worthy of the placing they received? Here is my reaction to them:
1st place story: The Smell of Dead Roses by Gerri Leen
Perhaps I do not like this story very much because I do not like the character ‘Perrin’, who is Sarek’s second wife. I found her obnoxious in the TNG episode ‘Sarek’. Also, in one published anthology, in a story by a well known author, this author did not seem to like her much either, thereby cementing my opinion.
The story is a series of scenes that spans Perrin’s life from childhood up to the time of Sarek’s death. Although the author gave Perrin a difficult childhood, I could not sympathize with the character. I especially disliked it when Perrin, as an adult, slams her apartment door in her mother’s face when the mother comes to Perrin for help. There was no resolution to the situation with her mother. Perrin just moves on to marry Sarek and move to Vulcan. The story ends with Perrin realizing that she is on her own again now that she is loosing her husband and mentor. Kind of a depressing ending, in a way, but I think it was trying to show that Perrin is a strong character. It did not work for me. I still don’t care about the character.
I did like Saavik in this story in her attempt to console Perrin. But I thought the story gave Spock short shrift. I think it was a missed opportunity to explore the Perrin/Spock relationship more deeply, especially since Perrin was portrayed as being grateful to Amanda for being kind to her in a chance meeting when Perrin was a child.
We see in this story, Perrin as a child meeting Amanda shortly before her death. I think it is a stretch to have them meet as one hundred years had passed since we last saw Amanda in one of the TOS movies, and the TNG episode with Perrin where Sarek was 201 years old. Perrin in the episode seemed to be in early middle age. Even if Humans lived 120 years at this time, Perrin could not have been born before Amanda died. Just my humble opinion. What do other people think of this story?
2nd place story: Echos by Randy Tatano
There were references that I did not understand in this story, even though I have seen every episode in every Star Trek series at least once. So I did not ‘get’ this story and was frustrated with it and bored. I don’t see why it placed in the top three. This has happened to me with a few other SNW stories. It makes me feel stupid. But then, I focus in on some aspects in the episodes and let others I am not interested in just roll by me. I suppose that if I re-watch every episode with a critical eye like Rigil and KTR do, instead of purely for enjoyment, I might pick up the references. So if any one wants to lay the meaning of this story out so I can say “Oh NOW I get it!” I would be grateful.
3rd place story: Universal Chord by Carolyn Winifred
The writing at the beginning of the story seems choppy. Short choppy sentences. This may have been an attempt to project the alien viewpoint. Not the greatest hook, but sticking with it, the story became a delightful view of a music concert through T’Pol’s perception as a Vulcan newly assigned to a Terran post. The description of the music was amazing – you could almost hear it. The interaction of the musicians with T’Pol after the concert was well done. And using words like “defaced” for “autograph” were well chosen to show an alien attempt to understand what was going on in Human culture.
I thought this story deserved its third place award.
I am still reading the stories and I know I will find some that I am absolutely enchanted with. There will be others that I say “meh” too. I always find these SNW anthologies to be a ‘mixed bag’. They are meant to be a balanced selection across the various series and ST movies. I enjoy that. It is a real shame that this is the last anthology, leaving fan fic writers to carry on alone with new tales from the ST universe.
Will do!
liked how they got revenge on the spammers .The Captain Ransom story wasn't bad it continues where the Equinox story left off he finally takes resposibility for his actions.