STTNG: A Time to be Born

2 January 2005 by Melissa

John Vornholt
I can’t talk about this sub-series of the Star Trek: The Next Generation novels without hearing the song in my head
To everything
(Turn, turn, turn)
There is a season
(Turn, turn, turn)
And a time for every purpose
Under heaven

Ok, now that that’s purged – I’d resisted buying these until now because the ninth book wasn’t published until October, and nothing irks me more than having to wait for sequels. So, I was strong, and as a result, I get to read the whole series, over the next few weeks.

The cover blurbs tells us that this series of nine novels is designed to fill in the blanks between Insurrection and Nemesis in the TNG universe, and it does a great job. Already in book one we’ve seen what Wesley’s been up to all this time, and found out just why Data no longer had a functional emotion chip in the last movie.

I read it in ebook format in one sitting while half-watching the Monk marathon on television, and I’m not sure if it was the show, or the format, but I feel like I’ve missed something by not having a tangible book in my hands.

Still, it was a great read, and makes me wish they’d filmed THIS instead of the movies they actually made.

Metamorphosis

13 December 2004 by Melissa

Jean Lorrah
Metamorphosis takes place in the second season of Star Trek: The Next Generation, but it’s a direct sequel to Jean Lorrah’s first TNG novel, Survivors.

In this novel, we see what Data might be like if his fondest wish was granted, and he became human, literally. Watching him adapt to being a “real boy” is both comic and poignant; watching him react to lost love is a bit disturbing. Someone said (probably in another TNG novel) that hurting Data is sort of like kicking a puppy, and it’s totally true.

In any case, at least they’ve fixed the errors with contractions – Data doesn’t use any in this novel, and it was still fun.

Survivors

13 December 2004 by Melissa

Survivors (Star Trek The Next Generation, No 4)

Jean Lorrah
I’ve been a Star Trek fan since birth, practically, to the point where, when I was a kid, the only television I was allowed to watch before 5:00 PM was reruns of classic Trek.

I was in junior high, or high school, when I started reading the novel tie-ins, and by the time I married Fuzzy, I had almost all the TOS novels, and a good portion of the TNG ones. At that point, I hadn’t begun to collect DS9, and Voyager didn’t exist.

When we left South Dakota, I gave my collection to Fuzzy’s brother, who also collected them. I think his collection is now complete, but I still like to revisit the series from time to time, and have contemplated beginning my collection anew.

In any case, my favorite TNG character is Picard, but I’ve always had a soft spot for Data, so when I saw the TNG novel Survivors, by Jean Lorrah, who had also written some of my favorite TOS novels, I had to have it.

It’s an episode expansion, of a sort, dealing with some of the events in the episode Skin of Evil (the one where Tasha is killed by the sentient oil slick), and also expanding the relationship between Data and Tasha, and talking about Tasha’s background. It’s also very EARLY TNG-fic, because Data is using contractions all over the place, and at one point Deanna Troi tells Tasha that Data has feelings.

Still, as fluff reading goes, it’s fun, and the insight into Tasha rounds out a character we never really got to know.