Course Correction Studio

Category: Behind the Times

  • OOC Ship of the Line

    OOC Ship of the Line

    Ship of the Line book coverShip of the Line by Diane Carey

    Published May 1, 1999, by Pocket Books

    Ship of the Line revives a storyline from the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode “Cause and Effect”.  In that episode, the Enterprise crew experiences a temporal causality loop where they keep experiencin the same sequence of events over and over again. It’s kind of like Groundhog Day, except in the TNG episode, the crew initially don’t realize what is happening.  They don’t realize that they are repeating the same day until late in the game.  When they discover what has been happening, they, of course, come up with a solution, but that solution causes a Federation ship called the Bozeman to travel to the 24th Century from 90 years in the past. (more…)

  • The Senator, The Socialite, and Their Bratty Son

    The Senator and the Socialite: The True Story of America’s First Black Dynasty by Lawrence Otis Graham

    Published June 27, 2006 by Harper

    The Senator and the Socialite is the true story of Blanche K. Bruce, a Mississippian who was the first elected black senator to serve a full term in the U.S. Senate. In the book, Graham chronicles the Bruce family’s rise to prominence during the 19th Century, a time when blacks were truly on the bottom rungs of society. Graham also relates the story of the family’s subsequent decline in the 20th Century.

    As a black Mississippian, I’d heard of Bruce before reading this book. He was one of the famous names that Mississippi school children hear about as they’re growing up and learning about state history. But I’d never read more than paragraph about him, even in grad school. When I first noticed this book on my mother’s dresser, I couldn’t pass up the chance to read a whole book about not just Bruce but also his family.

    The Senator and the Socialite starts off great. It’s historical non-fiction, but it’s certainly not a dry read. Graham is a very capable writer. As expected, I learned a ton of new stuff. For example, I had no idea that Mississippi has had a black Lt. Governor. Alexander K. Davis served as Lt. Governor under Adelbert Ames. Even more amazing is that Davis and Ames were elected in November 1873.

    The more I read about Bruce and his wife, Josephine, the more I didn’t like them, which is something I hate to admit. They both seemed extremely opportunistic, and there doesn’t seem to be any justifiable reason for it. They both wanted to acquire and hold onto power, even when it meant neglecting their extended family. When I think of historical figures who accomplished great things, I tend to think of them as having pure reasons for their actions, and I find myself holding them to a kind of lofty ideal. When I read accounts like what’s in The Senator and the Socialite, it brings these people down to reality, and I realize that they were humans with flaws, like the rest of us. I guess that can be both a good and bad thing.

    Unfortunately, my dislike for the Bruces isn’t limited to Blanche and Josephine. I feel the same about Roscoe, their son, though, his personality isn’t totally his own fault. His parents were often so busy with their own professional and social obligations that they didn’t spend any time with their kid. It’s heartbreaking to read about how he wanted to get to know them, how he yearned for closeness with them, but they just weren’t there for him emotionally.

    In Chapter 15, we finally get an instance where Roscoe doesn’t seem like a snob. Josephine wanted him to marry someone from a wealthier family so that problems wouldn’t arise due to mismatched financial backgrounds. Her brother’s first wife was a woman from a family of more modest means than theirs, and when they split, she took everything he had – literally. The woman took all his possessions. Josephine didn’t want Roscoe to succumb to the same fate. But Roscoe didn’t budge. He wanted Clara, even though her family was middle class and not as wealthy as the Bruces.

    As I began Chapter 15, I thought that Roscoe may have matured and turned over a new leaf, but my thoughts were premature. Right before his marriage to Clara, he was such an ass about the wedding and who was supposed to pay for it. He wanted a grand wedding but he wasn’t willing to help Clara’s family pay for it, even though they couldn’t afford all the things he demanded. I’ve never heard the term groomzilla, which would be the male version of a bridezilla, but I would say Roscoe definitely qualified. He wouldn’t help pay for the wedding, and he was unwilling to postpone it so that Clara’s family could save some more money for it. Also, he made Clara leave school to marry him and suggested that she was immoral for wanting to postpone so that she could finish. What a jerk!

    Josephine had at least one moment of redemption, too. In Chapter 16, she decided to pay her workers, going against the advice of her asshat brother-in-law. So the Bruces weren’t totally opportunistic about everything. To be fair, the Bruces aren’t the only ones who seemed less shiny to me by the time I finished the book. Through the accounts that Graham decides to include, he also manages to make Booker T. Washington seem like a total dick.

    Final Opinion

    While it was certainly interesting to read about this extraordinary family, I can’t help but feel sad about the outcome. In a way, even the modern family doesn’t leave any hope for a happy ending for the “dynasty”. Nearly all of the Bruce descendants have disappeared or have chosen to obscure their family ties to the family. Some of the descendants live as white people and refuse to acknowledge ties due to racial reasons. And many of the family members who look black don’t necessarily feel the need to embrace the family history.

    Honestly, my opinion of Bruce and his family kept declining throughout the book, and they never really were able to redeem themselves to what my opinion of them had been prior to reading the book. Granted, prior to reading the book, I’d known very little about them, but I’d had a positive perception because of Blanche Bruce’s role in the history of Mississippi and the nation. The Senator and the Socialite was a great book, but the story it tells is overwhelmingly sad.

  • The Buried Age

    Star Trek: The Next Generation: The Buried Age by Christopher L. Bennett

    Published June 27, 2007 by Pocket Books

    Summary

    The Buried Age covers the period of time in Picard’s life leading up to the first mission of the Enterprise-D.  Following the loss of the Stargazer, Picard, believing that his future in Starfleet is in doubt, focuses on archaeology and begins an exploration of a buried age of the ancient galactic history.

    Let the Gripes Begin

    The premise is intriguing.  Otherwise I wouldn’t have picked the book up.  Picard isn’t exactly an open book, so having the opportunity to learn about his past prior to the Enterprise was something I just couldn’t pass up.  But a book needs more than a good premise to be successful, and this one has some problems that keep it from being great.

    First of all, the book is slow!  At least in the beginning, it is.  There’s very little action to drive the book along, and I’ve come to appreciate a fair amount of action in Trek books. It’s something I’ve become accustomed to, and while it’s not necessary for the book to be all action, there needs to be some.  If I recall correctly, this is a gripe that fans had during the first season of TNG – too much talk, not enough action, so we’ve seen this situation before.  With the show, it could be attributed to the fact that fans were comparing Picard and Kirk.  It took time for them to get used to the fact that the two men are very different captains and have very different methods of resolving problems.  Picard prefers a more diplomatic approach, while Kirk is the kind of captain who shoots first and asks questions later. Picard is the focus of the book, so I guess I shouldn’t be surprised there isn’t a ton of action.  Picard isn’t a cowboy.

    Tech Speak!

    The writing also has a tendency to get very technical, and I often found myself lost in all the science talk – it’s very difficult to follow at times. I get it – Trek is science fiction, so there are supposed to be technical bits.  After all, it wouldn’t do to have Trek devolve into space opera.  But I don’t understand why Bennett spends so much time having characters explain intricate technical phenomena, especially while glossing over the action bits. Every once in a while – okay, I can deal with that, but it seems like it happens so often in this book. I found myself skimming over those parts because they’re just too much.  Those passages are difficult to follow, and I question just how relevant they are to the overall plot.  I realize that some readers probably love all the tech details, and that’s totally cool.  But I’m not one of those readers.  The action is what I want to read!  My eyes glaze over when I have to read a page-long explanation of some technological process I’m not interested in.  Ugh!  It plays a big role in ruining this book for me.  There is just way too much tech speak!

    (Spoiler Alert!  Don’t read past this point if you don’t want to know what happens.)

    I’d approached this book thinking I would be reading about my favorite characters.  After about the first ten chapters, the only familiar faces and names I’d encountered were Picard and Guinan, and even then, Guinan only appears for a few pages.  I almost gave up, but then Kathryn Janeway pops up unexpectedly at the end of Chapter 9.  Her appearance was the only thing that kept me reading.  Curiosity about how the plot would be resolved wasn’t even enough to keep me interested.  Combine that with the slow pace and the lack of canon characters, and you’ve got one dull read.  Maybe I should have somehow known what I was getting into when I bought the book, but I guess I thought learning more about Picard’s history would be more interesting.  Luckily for me, things eventually did get more interesting.  One reason is because more familiar faces, like Janeway, appear.  After this, the plot seemed to pick up some steam.

    Sabotage

    Bennett somehow managed to sabotage my enjoyment of the action that eventually did appear in the book, though.  How?  By rushing through scenes.  I know that he does it to move the plot along, and it’s necessary at times because the book covers such a large swath of time, but Bennett also does it when it would be better to let the action play out, such as when Ariel freaks out in the city.  That scene would have been great if Bennett had been more active in his portrayal.  Instead, he provides a passive account.  One of the things that makes great books great is their ability to pull you into the story so that you feel like you’re sitting there watching the action from a front-row seat or even standing in the middle of the action.  The way Bennett writes, you feel as if you’re only getting a re-cap.  It’s just not engaging.

    Lessons

    So it turns out that Ariel double-crosses Picard.  I can’t say that I didn’t suspect that this might end up being the case, just from the summary on the back cover.  But there were other clues throughout the plot, too, such as Picard’s uncharacteristic behavior in letting Ariel’s desires influence his actions so much, especially after he returns to Starfleet.  On the other hand, for all we know, that may not be so uncharacteristic for Picard at this point in his life, given that we don’t really know much about Picard’s personality from before his time as the Enterprise’s captain.  The only significant clues I’ve ever learned about his pre-Enterprise personality were gleaned when we saw his brashness as an Academy cadet in the TNG episode “Tapestry”, which depicted how Picard ended up with an artificial heart.

    Part IV is the best part of the book for me.  The action and flow of the plot in this part is more in line with what I’d expect of a Trek book, plus we get to see how Picard chose more members of his command crew for the Enterprise.  Good stuff!  This part of the book actually makes me want to watch TNG’s season 1.  That’s saying a lot because Season 1 of TNG is probably my least favorite season in all Trekdom, no joke.

    In addition to being plain old good, the final chapters also bring together some important themes of the book, namely guilt and the toll it can take on an individual; and the ability to let go of the past, live for the present, and welcome the adventure of the future.  The latter theme is what hit home for me the most, as it’s something I’ve find myself struggling with often.  Picard tells Ariel that she shouldn’t mourn the past.  She should view the unknown as an adventure.  Moving on in life is difficult, but you can’t remain somewhere that seems comfortable if it’s obvious that you’ve outgrown it, as Ariel has outgrown the corporeal plane of existence.  Don’t look at the past in terms of what you’ve lost – look at the future with excitement over what new things you’ll experience and the new people you’ll meet.

    The guilt thread is relevant to me, too, because I do have a tendency to feel guilty about failures, as Picard does.  What Deanna tells Picard about his history of success – it almost sounds like she could be speaking directly to me.  Like Picard, success has often come so easily to me that I expect it.  Failure has been something that I’ve viewed as unacceptable, something that needs to be fixed.  But that isn’t always possible or even desirable, and you mustn’t allow yourself to become obsessed by it.

    The Buried Age begins slowly, but it eventually picks up steam and becomes an interesting read in the later chapters.  It unexpectedly touched on some issues that I’ve been trying to deal with in my life, which has been rare for me when it comes to Trek books, though I know it’s not at all uncommon for that to happen.  I don’t think I can go so far as to call the book great, but it’s a solid good.

  • Captain’s Glory: Say it Ain’t Sue!

    Captain’s Glory (Star Trek: Totality #3) by William Shatner, Judith Reeves-Stevens, Garfield Reeves-Stevens

    Published August 22, 2006 by Pocket Books/Star Trek

    I may have had issues with the previous installments in this series starting out slowly, but this one definitely starts with plenty of action. That is an improvement. The depiction of Kirk’s son Joseph is not. Even though Joseph has been present in each of the two previous books, something about the way his character is written still feels incredibly hokey, almost Mary Sue-ish. It’s something I just haven’t been able to get used to. An example is the way he refers to Bones and Scotty as “Uncle Bones” and “Uncle Scotty”. While it makes perfect sense that Joseph would refer to them in this manner, given their relationship with his father, it just comes across weird.

    Captain’s Glory is probably my favorite book in the Totality series. It’s so exciting, and it feels more like a Star Trek book than the others because of the heavier Starfleet presence in the plot. It feels like a Trek movie.

    Now that I’ve finished the whole series, I can confidently proclaim that Totality is all about how special Joseph is and how he is destined to be some kind of divine being who saves the universe. Captain’s Glory is definitely the best book of the series, with non-stop action almost all throughout, but the premise reeks of Mary Sue-dom. I guess when you think about it, it kind of is, being about Kirk and his son and having been written by William Shatner. Even though I went into into this knowing that, totally eyes-open, my Mary Sue meter still went crazy on this one.

    While the plot of Captain’s Glory was full of action, and the book is the best of the series, the ending leaves me with a bad taste in my mouth, and this is as an ending for the entire series, not just Captains Glory. It was a good book, but it’s Mary Sue characteristics detract from it severely. It would have been better if Joseph could’ve ended up just being a normal kid in the end, even if he did help defeat Norinda. I mean, he turned into light – he was light to Norinda’s darkness. Wow. All I can do is shake my head at that. Wow – just, wow.

  • Captain’s Blood: Kirk’s Kid is Not What I Expected

    Captain’s Blood (Star Trek: Totality #2) by William Shatner, Judith Reeves-Stevens, Garfield Reeves-Stevens

    Published December 9th 2003

    Plot

    Spock is assassinated and James T. Kirk, with the assistance of Captain Will Riker and Captain Jean-Luc Picard, sets out to investigate the murder.

    Some Questions

    • Regarding the description of Kirk and Teilani’s kid – what in the world was Shatner thinking when he came up with the idea for Joseph. I think I understand the effect he was going for, but why does the kid have to have only three fingers and a thumb on each hand???
    • Since when does Kathryn Janeway fence?
    • What’s up with the hyphenation every time Joseph says “Dad”? It’s always written “Da-ad” or “Daa-ad”. That’s really annoying. At first, I thought it was supposed to mimic the way teens address their parents when the parents have done something to embarrass the teen, or when otherwise pleading with the parent, but it’s written too often here and though the uses aren’t necessarily out of place, the frequency makes them annoying.

    Final Thoughts

    As I’d hoped, this book was better than the first in the series. Much of that can be due to the fact that it didn’t take so long for the action to begin. I’d already begun reading Captain’s Glory, the last book in the series, before going back and reading the first book, so I’ve already had a sneak peak of what’s to come. I’m certain that I’ll enjoy the final book, particularly because now I know the backstory.