Strange New Worlds volume ten

[Linda]

I too am wondering how much editing was done on the stories after they were submitted. In several stories, I found errors. Usually it was leaving out a word. Example: "While was still sounding pleasant". This should have been "While it was still...". That is the kind of mistake I often make and it is hard to catch, yourself. Beta readers usually catch things like that. It makes me think that editing was minimal.

I read "Empty" by David DeLee over lunch. While the characterization of Kirk and McCoy was spot on, the theme of the story has been overdone. That is, the Kirk promotion from Captain to Admiral and how it was a wrong move for him. Its been done on screen and in other stories. Also, the ending is depressing: no resolutions, no revelations. The writing is fine. For me, it was an okay read, but something I will not re-read.

[Linda]

Two more stories read and only three more left to go.

"Wired" by Aimee Ford Foster was a great story. A lost Human colony is rediscoverd and the people seem to be going the way of the Borg. They are wired into a net where they all can hear each other. They are happy that way. But wait. Someone had sent that distress signal that Enterprise picked up. Could it be there are dessenters who do not want to be part of the net? This story has mystery and anticipation and resolves the conflicting colonist groups in the end. Very well done.

"A Dish Served Cold" by Paul C. Tseng is another enjoyable story. No, it is not really about the Klingons. It is about, of all people, the Pakleds and the Borg. It is absolutely hilarious. Now when the TNG episode about the Pakleds originally aired, I was angry because I thought it made fun of a disabled, or 'challenged' if you prefer that term, group of Humans. I still am uneasy with the concept of the Pakleds, but this story is an enjoyable read.

[Reanok]

When it comes to the story Empty i really didn't care for that one it was well written but it seemes a little off to me when it came to Kirk & McCoy's personality didin't seem quite right. A Dish served cold by Paul C. Tseng was really funny I enjoyed seeing the Pakleds wanting to join the borg. Wired by Aimee Ford Foster about becoming too depent on technology was a good story also.

[HopefulRomantic]

I read Hopeful Romantic's story. Very clever! and Trip (well both of them) is/are very in character. I love his lines.

I won't give anything away either, but it's a scene addition to a very key story in our T'nT cannon, and no one has ever thought of giving it this particular twist.

You can tell this one was written by someone who knows "our universe" inside out. I liked it way better than the Trip story that got in last year. Once again, very clever and very on target.

I felt like I saw one typo. Can that be possible? (An editor's perspective.) Another editor's perspective question I had: just how heavy handed was the editing? The published story was kind of "no frills," which is fine, but not the usual HR style. Hopeful Romantic are you lurking???!!!) *Waving smilie. Thumbs up smilie*

Anyway, I am both very happy for you and very jelous. GREAT JOB!!!!

Hey, y'all. Been away for a little while, working on some other stuff--and playing (new chapter of Redivivus up soon)--but I'm back.

Thank you for your kind words about "The Dream."

And yes, that's a typo. Two, actually. (Now, don't go looking for the other one. )

Regarding editing, my understanding is that the stories went into the book pretty much as is, with no rewriting or editing down--possibly because the book is put on the market more quickly than is typical. The stories are vetted by Paula Block at CBS to make sure the elements line up with established Trek canon, so there might be adjustments made because of that.

As for the "less is more" writing style: the stories I wrote for Dean--the ones that he ranked highest, at any rate--were deliberately more spare and less, um, indulgent than some of my fanfiction has been.

[justTripn]

I'm still mailing you my copy (as soon as I'm done reading it) with return address stamped envelope, for signing!

[Linda]

Hey, cool idea! I'd like to mail my copy and get it signed too. Where should I mail it to? Should I ask in a PM?

As for editing, sigh, every time I reread something of mine, I find something else to fix. EVERY TIME! So I should be pointing out the editing errors of others? LOL, I guess I probably shouldn't.

Reanok, I thought the characterization of Kirk and McCoy was good, but because you did not, I am taking another look at that story.

I am so sad that this is the last SNW volume. I really do enjoy these stories inspite of playing 'critic' with them. The variety of ideas showing up in them is amazing.

[Linda]

The Data story, "The Very Model" by Muri McCage is a well written sweet little story. I think my response is more emotional than critical. The Enterprise crew gets Data back. They coax him back in B4 out of Data's downloaded memories.

I like this story because I feel the same way about Trip's sister. In one of my fics, I gave what I think is a plausable explanation of how she survived the Xindi attack without her family realizing it. It seems the ST moives always use the device of killing something off: Spock, Data, the original Enterprise, the Enterprise D. Then in the movies they also brought something back that they killed off: Spock.

So why not bring Data back? Actually, they set up for that in the bringing of B4 on board. This SNW story carries out that intention. Good job! I think it validates my contention that Elizabeth Tucker is Not.Dead., just as a group of us who sported Trip is Not.Dead. T shirts at a convention a year ago did. And Connor Trinneer upon seeing those T shirts stated "I knew my people had arrived". So why not get something back that was seemingly lost? It is the Star Trek way.

[HopefulRomantic]

Hey, cool idea! I'd like to mail my copy and get it signed too. Where should I mail it to? Should I ask in a PM?

Sure, I'd be happy to sign copies! Just send me a PM for the address.

The variety of ideas showing up in them is amazing.

Agreed. While many of the current Trek books tend to look forward rather than back, a lot of SNW stories had the freedom to "fill in the blanks" about episodes, character backstory, the scene after the episode ended... all those unanswered questions that might have left you wondering. I love stories like that.

[Reanok]

I reread Empty and thought it was better the second time than the first with Kirk and McCoy's conversation about Janet Lester and all the crew Kirk's lost during his five year mission. I guess the reason I didn't for the Tos sepisode Turnabout In truder.But i can understand why Kirk felt burned out after what happened to him during that last episode.

[Linda]

Yeah, sometimes I change my opinion or at least modify it a bit on a second reading. So I intend to do some research so I can understand the few SNW stories (from several of the anthologies) which I did not 'get' because I lack some of the ST background or lack of some theoretical understanding. Some sci fi stories are beyond my mental capacity, I think, LOL. You know, like having another go at Einstein's theory of relativity?

"So a Horse Walks Into a Bar" by Brian Seidman made good use of minor characters from DS9 with a touch of cross over into VOY. I like the holographic characters which both these series made good use of. This is a nice little story that I might read over again.

Last story, sigh. "Signal to Noise" by Jim Johnson pages back and forth over the span of life of the universe...again and again. It cycles from expanding to collapsing to big bang to expanding. In the expanding part, it keeps moving the main character forward a few days. Here is another story where I get dizzy with all this rushing through time and space and feel a bit stupid. Did I get the punch line? WAS there a punch line? I am not sure! What I think it might be is that the agumented character 'Jack' (one of Bashir's group), may have made a dream into reality. Like Benny Russel (Ben Sisko) the writer's line "I created it and it is real". Nice story. Once again a fan has picked up where canon has left off and made the ST universe richer.

Well, I have ten volumes of SNW to go back to from time to time. And my favorite fan fic from online. It certainly rivals, and in many cases, outshines the 'professional published' ST literature in my way of thinking. I sit here hopefully waiting for someone to revive SNW, as somehow I can't accept that it is over!

And I am eagerly waiting for jusTrip'n or someone to explain to me the meaning of the stories whose meaning has eluded me. Cause I have pretty much exhausted my comments on SNW10 for now.

[Reanok]

A Horse walks into a bar I like the Vic hologram and the interaction with Dr. Zimmerman I did enjoy it. I have all 10 SNW books too. Right now I'm taking a break from reading trekbooks.

[evcake]

What she said, HR.
I also liked The Smell Of Dead Roses, You Are Not In Space, and for some reason, The Very Model.

[justTripn]

OK, my reaction to the Grand Prize winner: The Smell of Dead Roses. My immediate reaction as it started out was, this isn't very entertaining: I don't like it. But by the end, I had to admit it had merit. I'm not familiar with the characters, but I liked the message of the story. I think this story really portrayed the attractivenss of the Vulcan nonemotional ideal--maybe, for me, for the first time. The Vulcans were appealing in comparison with Perrin's mother, the drama queen. Usually, in fanfic, it is the Vulcans learning why emotions are important. Here we see the dignity of the Vulcan way. The ending was contrary to expectations. It reminds me of a book I read once which also featured a torn-up rose garden. I wonder if there was a connection.

Both stories were anti-romantic. The lesson was that a marriage is not only about emotion and "following your heart," but also commitment and sticking with someone because that it is where you belong.

OK, I googled the book: "Angle of Repose" by Wallace Stegner. Another book I didn't like, wasn't even going to finish, but a freind insisted I had to keep going. I was glad I did!

[justTripn]

My reaction to the Third Place winner: Universal Cord. It was very ambitious. A story describing someone (T'Pol) listening to a concert. It was impressive in that the author almost made me feel I was at a concert. But something about this story rubbed me the wrong way though, and I can't put my finger on it. It was a little too self-congradulatory--look how diverse we humans are. All kinds of different people getting along. I had always pictured the other species being this way too, but maybe I am wrong. Alien species in sci fi DO tend to wear matching clothes. HA! But it was kind of interesting in that it was post-apochalytic. People had crawled out of the rubble of the war, adopted each other and carried on and were still able to celebrate through music despite their scars or plastic knees or whatever. Maybe I did like it, I can't decide.

I have to repeat that the editing in this book is TERRIBLE. EVEN I could do better. Read each story 3 times!!!!!! Triaxian Silk stories have less typos!!!!! (Now I'm just being self-congradulatory.)

: D

[Linda]

Could it be that the lack of editing in SNW10 is a matter of economics? Maybe proof readers cost too much? And I have seen the same thing in published novels. Each one I read that is a recent novel, there are several errors of one sort or another. I don't see so many errors in books published 20 or more years ago. Not even sure there are that many errors in books published 10 years ago. And I am not a perfectionist! It is not so much spelling errors. Spell check catches those. It is words being skipped in a sentence - usually two-letter words or at least short words. It does not impact the understanding of the story, just makes me startle a little and makes me reread the sentence because something seemed missing.

I think the dead roses story was probably better than the first impression I had of it. But I did not buy the timing. Amanda would have been dead before Perrin was born because Perrin was at most in middle age in the TNG episodes that she appeared in. I would not have given that story first place because I thought the writing in some of the other stories in the anthology was much better. And of course, I probably blocked sympathy with the character right from the start because I didn't like her in her canon appearances. Then, somehow I was expecting her to rise above her mistreatment by her mother and have compassion for her when she came to Perrin for help. Maybe that is because I can't turn my daughter away when she needs help, no matter how she has treated me at times, LOL. And maybe I was expecting Perrin to be like Amanda, which she was not. And why should she be? Also, it could be that I expect Star Trek stories to be optimistic and dislike it when they are not. Sigh, I will reread the story and see if I can find more merit in it.