Enthusiastically Ambiverted Hopepunk
I read…a lot. Here’s where I ramble about books and printed media.
📚 thirty of 2020: Die Standing by John Jackson Miller ⭐️⭐️⭐️ #startrek #dis
A thoroughly entertaining romp with Emperor Georgiou between seasons one and two of DIS, as she adjusts to her new universe and gets recruited by Section 31. Plus ties to TOS and DS9. Fun! 🖖
📚 twenty-nine of 2020: The Peacekeepers, by Gene DeWeese ⭐️⭐️⭐️ #startrek 🖖
A bit of early TNG taking on the Prime Directive. A marked improvement from the last (first) novel, but still obviously at a point where the characters were still being developed.
Book twenty-eight of 2020: Ghost Ship by Diane Carey ⭐️⭐️ #startrek #tng 🖖
Painfully obviously early in the TNG novels (it is the first not adapted from an episode). Characterizations are wildly off base (Riker’s distrust of Data is basically overt racism). Just…oof.
📚 twenty-seven of 2020: Star Trek S.C.E.: Have Tech, Will Travel by Keith R.A. DeCandido, Kevin Dillmore, Christie Golden, Dean Wesley Smith, and Dayton Ward ⭐️⭐️⭐️
A collection of four novellas following the S.C.E. characters. More of Trek’s expanded universe.
📚 twenty-six of 2020: Practical Demonkeeping by Christopher Moore ⭐️⭐️⭐️
A smart aleck demon and its long-suffering keeper, quirky locals in a tourist town, and a touch of Lovecraft on the California coast. Entertaining and amusing, if not “laugh out loud” funny.
📚 twenty-five of 2020: Star Trek S.C.E.: Foundations by Dayton Ward & Kevin Dillmore ⭐️⭐️⭐️
A Trek “expanded universe” novel; three short stories and a framing story, all of Scotty’s interactions with the early S.C.E. and tying into TOS episodes.
📚 twenty-three of 2020: Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 1968 Hugo Best Novel
A neat blending of western SF sensibilities with the Indian pantheon of gods; enjoyed this one more than I expected given that I didn’t much like Zelazny’s prior Hugo winner.
📚 twenty-two of 2020: Nothing Lasts Forever by Roderick Thorp ⭐️⭐️⭐️
On its own, a fairly standard action thriller. But as the source material for Die Hard, it’s a fascinating artifact. Surprisingly similar, and all changes made for the film were for the better.
📚 twenty-one of 2020: Matter’s End by Gregory Benford ⭐️⭐️
An average collection of short stories, some of which show their age more than others—especially one that starts with a riff on Mormon missionaries and ends with what comes across as (unconscious?) Islamophobia.
📚 twenty of 2020: Starman by Alan Dean Foster ⭐️⭐️⭐️
A pleasant and easy adaptation of an 80s SF film that I remember enjoying when it came out. It’s another of the “benevolent alien meets paranoid humans” contact stories, but does it simply and well.
