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Star Trek Tie-In Books and Novels

Matt Zimmer — Fri, 18 Jul 2025 23:19:47 +0000

Quotable Star Trek by Jill Sherwin

I was disappointed. Not to say that the book doesn't deliver what it promises (all the best quotes of Star Trek up to the end of Deep Space Nine's Sixth Season and Voyager's Fourth). But because it reminded me that there are actually few clever lines on Star Trek I admire, and most of them are from Deep Space Nine, and about half of those are Garak's. I dunno, I wish Star Trek was a franchise with better dialogue while Sherwin was attempting this.

For a lot of this I am reminded of shit I HATED, specifically from TNG's "Symbiosis" and "The Bonding". I guess quotable Star Trek has nothing to do with GOOD Star Trek. If I had written this that would have been the bar. Of course the book would be a lot shorter, and while on some level that might be for the best, the truth is, as far as tie-in books go, this is a relatively FUN, fluffy one, and I get the need to pad out a book fans are actually gonna like and be able to shut off their brains for.

But I'm like Bernadette Anderson. I judge all the quips and one-liners by their merits, and unless you are getting Garak snarking about how awesome lying is, it's not Star Trek's best known quality.

The irony? Reading all this makes me realize the Kurtzman stuff is usually better at the quips. Okay, stipulated, Garak only showed up for an episode of Lower Decks, but if you take the pansexual tailor out of the equation it's true. It kind of frustrates me and makes me think this book needs a sequel / update.

For that matter I'd get updated versions of the Star Trek Encyclopedia and the Star Trek Chronology in a heartbeat. Could you even imagine what the Okudas would do with the Kurtzman stuff AND The Kelvin Timeline stuff? Holy shit! They'd be explaining away all of the plotholes and continuity snarls like it was their freaking job! Because, oh, yeah, it WAS! Star Trek REALLY needs to bring them back. They, along with Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens are the surviving behind-the-scenes Trek creators that ought to be brought back into the loop. Take my money, Pocket Books!

I mean, "Shut up, Wesley!" is one of Star Trek's most quotable lines (poor Wil Wheaton still has it shouted to him at airports) but it's pretty fucking galling to see it listed as such in print. But you know, the book wouldn't be complete without it. But it's still fucking depressing. Sheesh.

Also room for "Brain, brain, what is brain?" Seeing that in print made me realize this was the wrong franchise for this.

Unlike most Star Trek nonfiction books, it's an easy read. But I'm the nerd who enjoyed reading through the Encyclopedia and the Chronology cover to cover.

Have I admitted that elsewhere? A good question to ask me after me saying that is, "Are you actually insane, Matt?" Nah, the answer is I read The Silmarillion as a young adult. Cover to cover. Once you've done that, you have proven you can read anything. The Chronology and Encyclopedia were no sweat compared to that. I'm tempted to read through the entire Bible just for kicks, knowing I could do it, but I'm resisting the idea because I have the sneaking suspicion it would unfathomably depress me. But talk about what a brag that would be! And a great way to win online arguments with conservatives. But I sense it would emotionally wreck me, so nah.

You know what? For a fluffy Star Trek book, THIS one depressed me a bit. When it came to reading a light and fun Star Trek book, the Federation travel guide was WAY spiffier. 3 stars.

Dropout.tv

bnjmnrlyr — Fri, 18 Jul 2025 16:18:18 +0000

Anyone here a fan of Dropout? My son and local friends have been watching for a few years now and the programming just keeps upping the stakes on itself. I'd love to compare favorites or talk the latest if anyone else watches

His Dark Materials

Matt Zimmer — Sat, 28 Jun 2025 23:39:58 +0000

Reviewed two new books. I'll get around to posting my reviews of the other books eventually.

The Collectors (Print Edition) by Philip Pullman

Philip Pullman rocking the Multiverse before rocking the Multiverse was cool.

Finally got the print upgrade from my cruddy Kindle single. About time.

What interesting about the story is there are no characters to root for. Horley is an ignorant and greedy aristocrat and Grinstead is an amoral sociopath. As a rule it's not exactly kosher to only make a horror story filled with nothing but detestable characters so the reader won't be upset when bad things go down. But it's a novella that enriches a far larger story. I'll allow it.

The notion that Grinstead doesn't take the monkey because he knows it will come to him eventually is both awesome and chilling.

The time travel aspects of the story are probably the most intriguing thing about it, mostly because Universe crossing in "His Dark Materials" never involved that. It's never explained how it works or WHY it happened to Grinstead (or even what Universe he's originally from) but that just makes it even MORE mysterious. The hows and whys don't seem to matter to this short story. It Simply Is A Thing That Is.

The illustrations really demonstrate what a different mix of genres the story is. It's a mystery, gothic horror, and science fiction. What's interesting about the conceit of the unsolved mystery is that even if the reader isn't allowed to know EVERYTHING, we still know more than the actual characters do. It's an irresistible conceit for the mystery to be people from our world have NO context for what the hell could possibly be going on with Lyra's world. I've given Pullman's short His "Dark Materials"-related fiction a second look and it's all surprisingly solid. 4 1/2 stars.

The Imagination Chamber: Cosmic Rays From Lyra's Universe by Philip Pullman

I'm a little disappointed. Not just for the flimsy page count (It's pretty ballsy print is only on one side of each page) but because about HALF of this is from the Lantern Slides portions of Lyra's Oxford. I LOVED the Lantern Slides (or as Pullman refers to it now, "Cloud Chambers"). It's not cool to ask readers to essentially double dip on half of a hardcover book, and one only printed on one side to boot. So it's basically only 20-25 pages of new material, some pages only a couple of sentences long.

That said, some of the "slides" / "clouds" are fascinating. Mostly the stuff with Will. Not only interesting and believable that he became a doctor, but the part when he realized the elderly people who treated his mother so terribly when he was six, who he wanted to kill were his father's parents was chilling. A lot of cool insights like that, but a LOT of it was already printed.

I like the idea that Will was a little TOO good at medicine and occasionally had to give an incorrect diagnosis so his talents wouldn't be considered supernatural. I also like learning that after Will and Mrs. Coulter's confrontation in the cave in "The Amber Spyglass" both felt they escaped with their lives.

Also cool is the idea that people don't always need to talk to each other. Their daemons can sometimes interact, and the person, without even knowing it, might have gained an enemy for life or fallen in love.

Some of the new material involves the "The Book Of Dust" characters. Still this very much felt like a bait-and-switch. Not cool. 2 1/2 stars.

The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams

Matt Zimmer — Thu, 17 Apr 2025 01:15:03 +0000

The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams

I finally read this. This book is pure. This books understands real in a way nothing else I have ever read does. It is by turns tragic, magical, and beautiful.

The book was written in 1922. As a rule, I don't like books this old. I don't connect with them. Williams found something in 1922 that was Universal and timeless, and the messaging still works in a world entirely absent scarlet fever. The book moved me and it matters. 5 stars.

Sunrise On The Reaping by Suzanne Collins

Matt Zimmer — Fri, 28 Mar 2025 15:05:36 +0000

Sunrise On The Reaping by Suzanne Collins

It's amazing what 2 pages can do. We'll get to that.

I remember looking upon The Ballad Of Songbirds And Snakes with skepticism. Any Hunger Games prequel novels are bound to be disappointments. Not just because we know the ending, and the characters' fates are fixed. But since they all need to end BEFORE Katniss Everdeen takes down the Capitol, it's always gonna be an unsatisfying bummer ending.

She made it work with Songbirds And Snakes, as that was an origin story for President Snow, and his unhappy ending there satisfied the reader very much.

But detailing Haymitch Abernathy's victory in the second Quarter Quell and how he became the broken person he was? This wouldn't end well.

I was half-right. We'll get to those 2 pages soon. Honest.

I think it's interesting the book is told in the first person by Haymitch. Why? I've noticed this about a LOT of authors who use first person, and whether it's Judy Blume or Stephen King, the technique usually makes the narrator in question a full-on surrogate for the writer. Most of Blume and King's first person protagonists seem to speak with Blume and King's voice, and regardless of gender are usually variations on their own perspectives. Say what you will about this book, Haymitch's voice is entirely different that Katniss Everdeen's. And the differences are both stark and interesting.

To start off with the contrast between his normalcy at the beginning of the story and Katniss' weirdly defensive and insane behavior during the first 3 books says, yeah, Katniss wasn't operating under some sort of supernatural wisdom. She truly was that damaged the entire time. The events of this book damage Haymitch just as badly, but he starts off the book as a normal kid with a decent life (all things considered).

And some of the turns the book takes make Catching Fire and Mockingjay all the more rewarding in hindsight. Like Haymitch was on the ground floor of this rebellion from the start, even before Katniss was sent to the Games. He makes all sort of connections here, including with Beetee, Wiress, and Mags, and yes, Plutarch Heavensbee. Not sure if Plutarch can be entirely trusted at this stage of the game, but he's in it for the long haul, you know? I trust him more than Haymitch does.

I like that Haymitch likes Effie Trinket until she says the games are for the Greater Good. Yes, as much empathy as this character often reveals, she has always been this tactless and clueless.

But as the book goes on it throws ridiculous tragedy upon tragedy to Haymitch, and it all starts feeling a bit ridiculous, and at some point even unintentionally comical, especially with the later chapters leaning so heavily into Poe's The Raven. Each time the prose is interrupted for that poem I keep wishing Collins would focus on her own damn story. Ultimately, it seemed the inherent curse of doing a Hunger Games prequel was finally gonna backfire on Collins.

And then there is the 2 page Epilogue detailing events decades later, suggesting Haymitch HAS finally found a family in Katniss and Peeta Mellark, and they DID in fact stop the reaping after all. Is this a desperate move on Collins' end for satisfying closure in a premise where none is possible? I would think probably. Does it still work and make me forgive almost everything else? Yup.

If those last two pages didn't exist the book's grade would limp along to either 2 and half or 3 stars. I feel like I can give it 3 and half now. But the truth is it doesn't entirely work anyways. 3 1/2 stars.

Lilo & Stitch (2025)

Jim_Abell — Wed, 12 Mar 2025 20:30:08 +0000

May 23, 2025

ht tps : / / w ww.you tube.c om/watch?v=VWqJifMMgZE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWqJifMMgZE

Fantagraphics Disney Comics Collections

Matt Zimmer — Fri, 21 Feb 2025 01:41:27 +0000

Donald Duck: Vacation Parade by Bremaud & Bertolucci

This is without a doubt the finest artwork I have ever seen in a Disney Comic. Never heard of Bremaud and Bertolucci before, but this is fantastic stuff.

And the interesting thing is it HAS to be, because there is zero dialogue in the story. The art needed to be amazing by necessity, not merely choice.

Blue Sailor Suit for Donald instead of Black. They went all out in channeling the cartoons (although Ducks' eyes in the cartoons are always Robin's Egg Blue, and Donald's are white here.)

One of the most frustrating things about Donald to me is his temper completely obliterates his common sense. And I know this is based on the Disney cartoons where Donald's sense is never evident, whereas in the comics he is often the moral center. But I failed to see the logic of him destroying the dam. His boat was already wrecked. Unless he built another he was going after trouble he clearly couldn't handle out of spite and nothing more. The ecology message is present there, but without dialogue it's subtle, and must be inferred.

A quick, wonderful read. Highly recommended. 4 1/2 stars.

The Silence Of The Lambs by Thomas Harris

Matt Zimmer — Thu, 21 Nov 2024 17:16:50 +0000

The Silence Of The Lambs by Thomas Harris

I liked it a bit more than Red Dragon although the transphobic elements are beyond problematic.

What I notice most is how faithful the movie apparently was. That is a very rare thing, especially when one has seen the movie first.

Chilton is SUCH a bastard in the book that I think the most major thing changed, Lecter getting ready to kill him at the end of the film, would have been nice in the book. Lecter giving a final phone call to Clarice in the movie also feels a bit more satisfying than the letter he writes here.

I think the film was heady Oscar-bait. And the book seems a little more standard as far as thrillers go. I find it interesting Jonathan Demme read it and not only constructed a prestige picture out of it, but changed very little when doing so.

I have to say Clarice's exchanges with Lecter about her childhood and the screaming of the lambs are the ONE thing in the book that elevates it beyond hard-boiled crime fiction. I can totally see Demme reading that scene and imagining the amazing performances he could get out of it.

Unlike both the films and the Clarice TV series, we get an unhappy update on Will Graham. He's still alive, in Florida, and a drunk. Still with Molly? The book doesn't say but I hope so. In all other media besides the Hannibal TV show Will Graham simply seems to have dropped off the face of the Earth. This is why we prefer books.

I've heard what happens in the book "Hannibal", which is why although I'll praise this book, it needs to be a bit measured. It's also why this is my stopping point for the saga.

But yes, this book itself was mostly excellent. 4 1/2 stars.

Red Dragon by Thomas Harris

Matt Zimmer — Thu, 21 Nov 2024 17:15:38 +0000

Red Dragon by Thomas Harris

I will be reading and reviewing the first two books in the Hannibal Lecter series. Won't be reading the last two. No interest in them.

I think this is a very good procedural novel. Harris has the technical details of forensic and crime scene investigation down to a science. Hannibal Lecter is barely in the novel and that fact makes him MORE memorable, not less.

All that being said, I feel like it runs out of gas once Francis Dolarhyde fakes his suicide. Him popping up at the end felt so unrealistic and unearned, but it's not like the supposed suicide wasn't already unsatisfying.

I think the most interesting thing in the book starts halfway through: Francis' romance with Reba. Dolarhyde is such a pure monster before it, and when he eats the Red Dragon picture but leaves the women alive at the museum Will probably had it right when suggesting he was trying to stop. And it's kind of amazing Reba brought that about after reading his unrepentant letter to Lecter.

Honestly, the scene of her being allowed to touch the tiger was amazing, and made me like Dolarhyde in spite of everything. In the end, he couldn't overcome the voice in his head or the demon on his back. But it's interesting that this woman made him WANT to. And even more interesting how terrified and conflicted it made him.

Also props to Harris for having her survive the book.

Freddie Lounds noting that Graham's hand on the shoulder during the photo was a set-up is interesting. Because I think it's true. That's what bothers Graham too.

Lecter printing Graham's home address in code in the Tattler for the Tooth Fairy to read shows exactly how dangerous and duplicitous Hannibal Lecter really is. And we didn't have to see him wearing anyone else's face to realize it.

So many people have called this a horror classic but I won't go that far. But it's a solid read. The ending could have been stronger but the book was mostly successful otherwise. 4 stars.

Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury

Matt Zimmer — Sat, 22 Jun 2024 19:26:51 +0000

Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury

Wonderful. My first Bradbury book and I doubt my last. The man's prose is wonderful. It goes right up to the edge of cliche, but it feels flowery instead, and the man really knows how to turn a phrase.

Charles Halloway, the father of Will, being the actual hero of the book is refreshing as hell. Whenever Dad monologues it's just wonderful. The irony is I don't agree philosophically with everything he says. But it's fun to listen to him say it. Best Dad EVER!

It's scary, fun, dark and light, and has a weirdly happy ending. It's the first horror book I've read that I can understand how it became a Disney movie. It's great. 5 stars.