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Spoilers Strange New Worlds 2016 Review Thread

Strange New Worlds 2016

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Markonian

Markonian

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Strange New Worlds 2016
by Various

Stories and (unofficial) synopses:
"Dilithium is a Girl's Best Friend" (TOS/pre-TUC)
by Neil Bryant
In 2293, Eve McHuron-Childress and Harry Mudd form an unlikely alliance to make the ultimate profit: wiping the Federation from history with the Genesis device! But genocide might be more than they bargained for when they find the awesome power of the Tkon Empire standing in their way.
TrekLit reference: Ending can be fudged to match the VGD/Q history of the Tkon's end.

"A Christmas Qarol" (TNG)
by Gary Piserchio & Frank Tagader
C. 2370: Q must face off with Dickens' Spirits of Christmas, to save a boy's life from being inconsequential and prevent the assimilation of the entire Q-Continuum by the Borg Collective!
TrekLit reference: Incompatible with ST: Destiny.

"The Sunwalkers" (TNG)
by Kelli Fitzpatrick
2370 (soon after "Journey's End"): A heartbroken Crusher must come to terms with her son's unimaginable fate to save the children of a mysterious Federation member world from succumbing to deadly tetra-helon radiation!
TrekLit reference: No conflict

"The Seen and Unseen" (TNG - NEM)
by Chris Chaplin
C. 2374 - 2379 (Dominion War & Shinzon's Coup): To save the life of a Vulcan revolutionary, a Reman mongrel has to enter a devious pact with his worst enemy: his depraved Romulan self!
TrekLit reference: Can be fudged - "Admiral" Toreth is killed prematurely, and there's chaos after the coup instead of Tal'Aura's swift consolidation.

"The Façade of Fate" (DS9)
by Michael Turner
c. 2374: Stranded thousands of years in the future, Sisko, Dax and Worf find a galactic civilisation ruled by an oppressive revisionist regime - the United Federation of Planets!
TrekLit reference: Compatible, but premis is extremely outlandish.

"The Manhunt Pool" (DS9)
by Nancy Debretsion
2372/3: No good deed goes unpunished as Garak must surreptitiously lead a dumbfounded Odo through a murder mystery - without bringing a death sentence onto himself! Only his pet lemur might bring salvation.
TrekLit reference: None. Fully compatible.

"The Dreamer and the Dream" (DS9)
by Derek Tyler Attico
2380: Dukat has returned and set the universe on fire - except for a five-lightyear sphere from Bajor to Cardassia. The Defiant and a battle-armored Enterprise-E are helpless against the impending apocalypse. Only the Emissary might save the universe from certain doom - if he can convince its executor to rewrite history: the Pah-wraith Benny Russell!
TrekLit reference: Compatible as alternate timeline, like the ones we saw in Warpath. Sisko's second child is Jonathan.

"The Last Refuge" (VOY)
by Roger McCoy
2372 (after "Basics, Part II"): Even from beyond the grave, Lon Suder sows terror among Voyager's crew. The craven killer will stop at nothing to bring the conflict between Starfleet and Maquis to a head - even if he has to murder Captain Janeway herself!
TrekLit reference: Fully compatible. Even references Worf's and the Brikar's clash at the academy.

"Life Among the Post-Industrial Barbarians" (VOY)
by John Coffren
2372 (Before, during, or after "Future's End"): Stranded on Earth for thirty years, Captain Braxton is offered a chance to return home - by his ruthless younger self. But breaking into Chronowerx's headquarters to battle time-traveling thieves may only cement his eternal exile on 20th century Earth!
TrekLit reference: None. Fully compatible. Also compatible with the STO: Agents of Yesterday storyline.

"Upon the Brink of Remembrance" (VOY)
C. 2376: Seven of Nine remembers assimilating a member of Species 3836.
(I only started reading this one).
 
So far I've only read The Last Refuge, which I loved, as I think that Lon Suder was underused. And the TNG YA series reference. Great.

I've gotta admit, I was a bit suprised that there were no Enterprise stories. As I am currently re-reading and watching the 22nd century I was hoping for some stories set in that century.

However I am glad to see the series back, even if this may be the final installment. I think that canonizing and liscensing nonn-professional fan written stories is a great move by Pocket.

Also, trampledamage, could you fix the title? I'm sure that's what Markonian would have wanted.
 
Wasn't one of our regular writers involved in the process somehow? I remember there were discussions about the legitimacy of the book when the prizes were announced.

Also, trampledamage, thank you for fixing the title. Xoxo
 
IIRC the SNW volumes never sold that well and the series was brought back only for the 50th anniversary, which of course doesn't mean that they can't continue it if it sells well.
 
I don't think he's a board member, but SNW alum Scott Pearson copy-edited the book according to facebook.
 
Copy editing, of course, not the same (at least I don't think so) as making the selections. I would think someone would want to take credit for that work. The stories I've read so far have all been of very high quality, even if the contest itself was kind of weird with the not publishing the two very best stories thing...
 
The Façade of Fate:

This story was just... Strange. I generally like the idea of time travel into the far future and see how the Federation has developed, though I do prefer more positive depictions and not... this. The flip side to far future Federations is that, if you accept the depicting story as head-canon, it brings a quite definitif end to pretty much everything that's currently going on, which is why I like to treat these stories as just depicting a possible Federation. I also found something weird about the characterization of Worf. Him directly attacking a Romulan, even though he was told that everybody lives peacefully here, seems strange. I could be misremembering, as it has been some time since I have watched either TNG or DS9, but Worf was a lot less hot-headed in his TV apperances and definitely in the relaunch novels.
 
Well, he did almost blow a hole in the view screen in one of the early TNG Season 1 episodes. He did tone it down a lot as the series, DS9, and the relaunches went on though.
 
JD said:
Well, he did almost blow a hole in the view screen in one of the early TNG Season 1 episodes. He did tone it down a lot as the series, DS9, and the relaunches went on though.
Click to expand...
This story is set at the height of the Dominion War (or maybe not the height, the short story wasn't any more precise than pretty much "somewhen during the Dominon War".) If the story was set after the Romulans had joined the Federation and Klingons in their battle Worf shooting one of them would be very at least strange to outright stupid.
 
A Christmas Qarol:
That was a charming story, but took action n into the fan fiction corner. Admiral Timothy Picard single-handedly will end the Borg.
Come on! If a technological solution could end the Borg, any advanced Delta Quadrant civilisation would have thought of it first.

The Crusher story only suffered from one, pre-existing trope: The Federation accepts members it barely knows anything about. We've seen it before but it does not make sense (except with the Ontailians, somewhat). It takes huge effort and years-long exchange for a nation to join the European Union, but the UFP accepts enigmatic aliens whose biology itself is mostly unknown?
 
Markonian said:
A Christmas Qarol:
That was a charming story, but took action n into the fan fiction corner.
Click to expand...
It bears repeating: Since at least a Pocket Books editor and CBS representative (presumably, though no editors listed) approved all these stories, they are not "fan fiction." I realize you probably know this and meant "fan fiction corner" to mean something like "wish fulfillment" or "continuity-focused" fiction, but I'm a persnickety enough nerd to not let it slide without a friendly (I hope) reminder. :)
Personally, I thought "Qarol," though not my favorite of the stories thus far, was wildly innovative and audacious - I would never have dreamed anyone could get away with a story like that. It would have fit nicely in the "Infinities" section of the old books.
 
Bibliomike said:
It would have fit nicely in the "Infinities" section of the old books.
Click to expand...
What was the "Infinities" section? I know there was a "Speculations" section for stories that don't exclusively fit in one series, but I don't think I've heard of an "Infinities" section.
 
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