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RK_Striker_JK_5 wrote:Reliant, I lived with an emotionally and mentally abusive stepfather for eleven years who left my mother and I with emotional scars and a second mortgage, among other things. I... need optimism in my fiction. Without it... no. There are one or two exceptions, but the vast majority of stuff I listen/watch/read needs that hope and at least an earn your happy ending.

RK_Striker_JK_5 wrote:Dreadnought, Graham? Dude... that one sucked, IMHO. Piper was an awful character, and the politics in it were . I use that novel as one of my 'what not to do' when writing fic.

Sorry, man. But gotta disagree there.

SolkaTruesilver wrote:

RK_Striker_JK_5 wrote:Reliant, I lived with an emotionally and mentally abusive stepfather for eleven years who left my mother and I with emotional scars and a second mortgage, among other things. I... need optimism in my fiction. Without it... no. There are one or two exceptions, but the vast majority of stuff I listen/watch/read needs that hope and at least an earn your happy ending.

don't watch BSG.

Seriously. This is probably one of the most depressing serie I've seen in my life. Probably the best too, but still depressing as hell.

It even drove its own character to suicide!

GrahamKennedy wrote:

RK_Striker_JK_5 wrote:Dreadnought, Graham? Dude... that one sucked, IMHO. Piper was an awful character, and the politics in it were . I use that novel as one of my 'what not to do' when writing fic.

Sorry, man. But gotta disagree there.

Hey, I said it had a godawful Mary Sue character in it.

As a rule, I don't like Diane Carey's writing at all. She's a small boat sailor and avid Coastguard fan, and it heavily influences her writing; unfortunately the effect is that she often makes huge starships feel like they're 30 foot sailboats. But Dreadnought is one of the cases where it didn't come across that way. I love the Dreadnought idea itself, and although the Mary Sue is annoying, it was interesting to see an adventure from a junior officer's eyes. Kind of a Lower Decks feel to it in that respect.

GrahamKennedy wrote:

Atekimogus wrote:Could you give me a view pointes to good TOS novels?

Ones I enjoyed :

"My Enemy, My Ally"
"Enterprise : The First Journey"
"Chain of Attack" - in some ways, this is a TOS version of Voyager. Enterprise finds herself thrown millions of light years across space and lands in an area dominated by warlike races. Unlike Janeway, Kirk kick's everyone's ass and gets his people home. It's a great book!
"Spock Must Die!"
"Rules of Engagement"
"Dreadnought" - though it has the biggest Mary Sue character I ever read
"Deep Domain"
"Dreams of the Raven"
"Strangers from the Sky"

Some of them are contradicted by canon - Spock Must Die, especially, has an ending that would have changed all of Trek history. But I don't really care, in and of themselves they are good stuff.

GrahamKennedy wrote:

RK_Striker_JK_5 wrote:Dreadnought, Graham? Dude... that one sucked, IMHO. Piper was an awful character, and the politics in it were . I use that novel as one of my 'what not to do' when writing fic.

Sorry, man. But gotta disagree there.

Hey, I said it had a godawful Mary Sue character in it.

As a rule, I don't like Diane Carey's writing at all. She's a small boat sailor and avid Coastguard fan, and it heavily influences her writing; unfortunately the effect is that she often makes huge starships feel like they're 30 foot sailboats. But Dreadnought is one of the cases where it didn't come across that way. I love the Dreadnought idea itself, and although the Mary Sue is annoying, it was interesting to see an adventure from a junior officer's eyes. Kind of a Lower Decks feel to it in that respect.

GrahamKennedy wrote:Anyway, do check out some of the others. I'd most especially recommend "My Enemy, My Ally" and "Chain of Attack".

Sonic Glitch wrote:I did enjoy "Ship of the Line"

GrahamKennedy wrote:"Chain of Attack" - in some ways, this is a TOS version of Voyager. Enterprise finds herself thrown millions of light years across space and lands in an area dominated by warlike races. Unlike Janeway, Kirk kick's everyone's ass and gets his people home. It's a great book!

Reliant121 wrote:I tend to like Diane Carey. No idea why.

Striker: that's understandable. I suppose I've always lived in an incredibly safe, secure and stable family. Insanely so, I've never met a family that's quite as...solid as mine. Hence I would naturally search for something exciting, dark and mysterious. I tend to prefer stories that don't have happy endings because that's all I've ever lived with.

Mikey wrote:I see your point, Striker: fiction is supposed to be escapist to a certain extent. I can appreciate either sort, though, as long as its entertainment value is high; neither dystopian nor utopian milieux impart any sort of value on their own without some meat to back them up.