Monday, July 22, 2019

Literary Treks 275: Q is a YouTube Comment Troll

Star Trek: The Next Generation
Q & A
by Keith R.A. DeCandido

Purchase:
Mass-market paperback: Amazon.com | Amazon.ca | Amazon.co.uk
E-book (Kindle): Amazon.com | Amazon.ca | Amazon.co.uk

The supposedly-omnipotent Q has long been a thorn in the side of Jean-Luc Picard and the crew of the Enterprise. From the very beginning of the Enterprise-D's mission to Farpoint, Picard has been put through his paces dealing with the seemingly-childish entity. However, is there more to Q's visitations than meets the eye? Picard and his crew will soon find the answer to that question, with the fate of the entire universe at stake!

In this episode of Literary Treks, hosts Bruce Gibson and Dan Gunther discuss the TNG novel Q & A by Keith R.A. DeCandido. We talk about the new members of the Enterprise crew, the strange planet at the heart of the novel, the ultimate Q story, the link to "Parallels," Worf's new outlook on life, a particular cover quandary, and wrap up with our final thoughts and ratings.

In the news segment, we congratulate David Mack on his new role behind the scenes in a couple of upcoming Star Trek television shows, and respond to feedback from The Babel Conference for Literary Treks 273: Unintended Consequences.


Literary Treks 275: Q is a YouTube Comment Troll
The Next Generation: Q & A by Keith R.A. DeCandido





Previous episode: Literary Treks 274: An Old Man in the Park Feeding Pigeons
Next episode: Literary Treks 276: There's a Line We Can't Cross

1 comment:

  1. I absolutely love the closing lines of this book:


    Q, Picard asked, what did going into Sherwood Forest and making me play the role of Robin Hood to Vashs Marian have to do with all this?
    Shrugging, Q said, I just wanted to see you in tights, Jean-Luc.
    With that, Q snapped his fingers, and Picard was gone.


    I am a huge fan of "All Good Things." Not only is it a classic Trek episode, imo, it is also one of the very best series finales in television history. It's wonderfully written and has a grand premise and somehow manages to wrap the series up perfectly and fill me with a sense of...I don't know..."wonder" or "awe" at the limitless potential of the Trek universe. How do you follow up on that? You can't. I think that's why I've always been underwhelmed by the VOY Q episodes and the Q-centric novels. Everything pales in comparison to All Good Things.

    Now, having said that, I still found the book entertaining. I hate "small universe syndrom" type books but K.R.A.D. did a pretty good job here. I put it in the same category as the Strange New Worlds tale "A Christmas Qarol" A fun "What If?" type story. One that I don't count as part of my head canon but that I still enjoy on its own merits.

    p.s. In some alternate reality the universe was obliterated 0.0000001 milliseconds after Commander Sisko punched one of THEM in the nose.

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