Showing posts with label Star Trek. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Star Trek. Show all posts

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

New Release Tuesday in the Realms of SciFi and Fantasy



To Try Men's Souls: A Novel of George Washington and the Fight for American Freedom by Newt Gingrich (Author), William R. Forstchen (Author), Albert S. Hanser (Author)

Product Description
After two bestselling series examining the Civil War and WWII, Newt Gingrich and William R. Forstchen have turned their sharp eye for detail on the Revolutionary War. Their story follows three men with three very different roles to play in history: General George Washington, Thomas Paine, and Jonathan Van Dorn, a private in Washington’s army.

The action focuses on one of the most iconic events in American history: Washington cross - ing the Delaware. Unlike the bold, courageous General in Emanuel Leutze’s painting, Washington is full of doubt on the night of December 25, 1776. After five months of defeat, morale is dangerously low. Each morning muster shows that hundreds have deserted in the night.
While Washington prepares his weary troops for the attack on Trenton, Thomas Paine is in Philadelphia, overseeing the printing of his newest pamphlet, The Crisis.

And Jonathan Van Dorn is about to bring the war to his own doorstep. In the heat of battle, he must decide between staying loyal to the cause and sparing his brother who has joined up with the British. Through the thoughts and private fears of these three men, Gingrich and Forstchen illu minate the darkest days of the Revolution. With detailed research and an incredible depth of military insight, this novel provides a rare and personal perspective of the men who fought for, and founded the United States of America.

I love altrnative history timelines - the ultimate "what if". This sounds great!!


Star Trek: Enterprise: The Romulan War: Beneath the Raptor's Wing (Star Trek : Enterprise) by Michael A. Martin (Author)

Product Description
At the start of the twenty-first century, unconditional war swept across the Earth. A war that engulfed the great and the small, the rich and the poor, giving no quarter. Each side strove for unconditional victory, and as battle built upon battle, the living began to envy the dead.

Chastised by the cataclysm that they had unleashed, the governments of Earth came together. Humanity vowed to put an end to war and to strive for the betterment of every living creature. A united Earth created Starfleet, an interstellar agency whose mission was to explore the cosmos, to come in peace for all mankind. It was a naïve wish that was battered by interstellar realities, yet man persists in the belief that peace is the way. Banding together with other powers to form a Coalition of Planets, humanity hopes that the strength each can offer the other will allow for peaceful exploration.

However, the rise of the Coalition strikes dread within the Romulan Star Empire. They feel its growing reach will cut them off from what is rightfully theirs. The Romulans know that the alliance is fragile, that the correct strategy could turn allies into foes. Perfecting a way of remotely controlling Coalition ships and using them as weapons against one another, the Romulans hope to drive a wedge of suspicion and mistrust between these new allies.

One Starfleet captain uncovers this insidious plot: Jonathan Archer of the Enterprise.

Determined not to lose what they have gained, outmanned and outgunned, the captains of Starfleet stand tall, vowing to defend every inch of Coalition space until the tide begins to turn.
The Romulans now plan to strike at what they see as the heart of their problem. With nothing left to lose, the Romulan Star Empire engages in all-out war against humanity, determined once and for all to stop the human menace from spreading across the galaxy.

Okay, we all know I am both a Star Wars and a Star Trek geek - what can I say, lol?!

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Sunday, May 17, 2009

To Boldly Go...


Today I went to see the new Star Trek film to see what the buzz was all about. I am not typically a fan of prequels but this was, I think, done exceptionally well. I remember following the original TV series as a child, always enthralled with the adventure as they would go “where no one has gone before”.

The series literally begins with the extraordinary circumstances surrounding James Tiberius Kirk’s birth. The USS Kelvin, the ship Kirk’s father serves on, investigates a lightening storm in space only to find it is an emerging black hole. A massive ship emerges and the Kelvin finds itself cast into an alternative timeline and under attack from this colossal ship. The ship’s captain has transported to the alien ship leaving Kirk’s father to captain his ship. It quickly becomes apparent the only hope for survival they have is to evacuate the ship. The auto pilot is destroyed and Captain Kirk senior must stay aboard the ship to allow the 800 passengers and crew the ability to escape. It is a suicide mission, which he realizes, but Star Fleet is always looking out for the greater good. Seconds before impact the baby is born, Captain Kirk senior and his wife decide to name the baby Jim after her father with a middle name of Tiberius after his father. Kaboom! In the 15 minutes he captained the ship, he literally saved the lives of 800 people - pretty big footsteps for a baby to follow in.

The film does a fabulous job of filling in the details of the back story of each of the regular characters from the show making a very entertaining storyline of how they met the circumstances of how they were assigned to the USS Enterprise and completion of the alternate history story line to bring things up to the original series.

Star Trek has produced many sequels in virtually every form of media there is – spin off TV series, movies, books and tons of promotional items (from action figures to lunchboxes to plush tribbles).

One thing I find intriguing from the Star Trek phenomenon is the number of people that have authored the books for Simon and Schuster. They have an entire set of submission guidelines pertaining specifically to Star Trek books. Amazing.

Are there other book series that encourage a range of authors to pen their tales? It struck me as a unique concept, but perhaps there are others out there. I have not followed the series (books or TV) but wonder if these authors use the same voice or if there are obvious differences. I know there are a lot of fan fiction stories out there for various other series, but I couldn’t think of other series that published multiple authors for profit with the same series such as this. Hmmmmm….
Just a thought...
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