Karsa Orlong

Trek ain't Trek unless Kirk gets to snog an alien and expose his chest at least once per episode Haven't read any Trek novels for 20 years or more, but the ones that stick out in my memory are The Entropy Effect, The Wounded Sky, Yesterday's Son and The Final Reflection (all TOS novels).

I've only just noticed that Syfy is now showing the HD versions of TNG. Unfortunately it's on season 1 at the moment

Nice to see you said that Shatner style Totally agree about Pegg - his Scotty just doesn't work for me. I said it earlier, but I think Karl Urban's McCoy is the best and closest to the original. They really have to give him more to do. They're so busy focusing on Kirk and Spock that they've forgotten the vital dynamics of the original trio.

Missed this earlier. Glad you enjoyed it, Tim. The Coldest War is so much better! I've got the short story about Gretel but haven't read it yet.

R.I.P. Jack. He had a good innings!

Obviously not!

Surely that should be: Khaaaaaaaaaaaan!!

That's what you took from my post? Not 'The Trouble With Tribbles'?? Pfft!!

On Amazon Marketplace Into the Deep is currently £69 for a new copy, and Breakthrough is . . . £340!

Brad Pitt and Julia Roberts? Nooooooooooooooooooooooo! That's just ruined the book for me forever! I seem to remember reading something along those lines, too. David Gerrold. The man who wrote The Trouble With Tribbles

Yeah, but then I can't think of many authors who could write two books as good as Replay

Me too!

Mwahahahahahaha! I wish I was getting royalties for this He wrote a handful of other books, chalie, but they're incredibly difficult to get hold of (Breakthrough, his first book, is currently £18 plus postage for a second hand copy through Amazon Marketplace), so I haven't read them yet. Sadly, he himself died of a heart attack whilst writing the sequel to Replay. Wonder how many replays he's had, himself.

Ditto. I hope you find it useful/interesting, Devi. Generally, I find these types of book are the sort of thing I'd dip into after I'd read one of the books included in the list. I had a look at the books included in this one, though - I haven't read all that many of them, but I was curious as to what they had to say about the ones I have read, especially A Fire Upon the Deep, having just finished re-reading it. For what it's worth, it's well written, and the overview they provided would be a good introduction for someone who's never read AFUtD. However, it seems a little schizophrenic, in that it wants to appeal to people who have not read these books and yet there were plot spoilers in the sections I read, so I'd advise proceeding with care ETA: Tim, I think the books were presented chronologically by date of publication, rather than being ranked with a 'top ten'.

Hee, yeah, loads I was intending to go for a while without a plan but I'm not so sure after this morning's agonising I picked a few off the shelf: The Children of the Sky (Vernor Vinge), Emperor: The Gates of Rome (Conn Iggulden), Prophecy (S. J. Parris) and Pompeii (Robert Harris). Read the first page of each and liked them all, tbh, but settled on The Children of the Sky. It seems to make sense to read it whilst A Fire Upon the Deep is still fresh in my memory

The Plan 2 From the TBR list: Best Served Cold by Joe Abercrombie - finished 17/04/13 Stonemouth by Iain Banks - finished 09/04/13 The Desert Spear by Peter V. Brett (Demon Cycle Book 2) - dropped The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch (Gentleman Bar Steward Sequence Book 1) - finished 05/04/13 HMS Surprise by Patrick O'Brian (Aubrey/Maturin Book 3) - finished 21/04/13 The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson (Stormlight Archive Book 1) - finished 22/03/13 Terminal World by Alastair Reynolds - started 23/03/13 - finished 28/03/13 The Cure of Souls by Phil Rickman (Merrily Watkins Book 4) - finished 24/05/13 Re-reads: A Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge (about 20 years since I read this) - finished 19/05/13 A Study in Scarlet by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (over 30 years since I read this!) - finished 30/03/13 Books I might buy: Dead Beat by Jim Butcher (Dresden Files Book 7) Altered Carbon by Richard Morgan (Kovacs Book 1) Leviathan Wakes by James S. A. Corey (Expanse Series Book 1) - finished 09/05/13 Monarchies of God by Paul Kearney Necessary Evil by Ian Tregillis (Milkweed Tryptich Book 3) - finished 03/05/13 Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry Shogun by James Clavell The 'one no-one saw coming' East of Eden by John Steinbeck - finished 29/04/13 And that's Plan 2 finished, as I'm not buying any of the 'might buys' at the moment. This is the first time I've been without a plan for a few months . . . and now I don't know what to read next!

Book #29: The Cure of Souls by Phil Rickman From Amazon: 'Black poles against the pale night . . . like a site laid out for a mass-crucifixion.' In Herefordshire's hop-growing country, where the river flows as dark as beer, a converted kiln is the scene of a savage murder. When the local vicar refuses to help its new owners cope with the aftermath, diocesan exorcist Merrily Watkins is sent in by the Bishop. Already involved in the case of a schoolgirl whose mother thinks she's possessed by evil, the hesitant Merrily is drawn into a deadly tangle of deceit, corruption and sexual menace as she uncovers the secrets of a village with a past as twisted as the hop-bines which once enclosed it. Thoughts: Very quick review of this one, as I won't have much time over the next few days and would probably never get around to it if I didn't do it straight away! This is the fourth of Rickman's books about priest and Deliverance minister Merrily Watkins. And by 'Deliverance' it means that she deals with the apparent supernatural. On this occasion it's a mix of familiar elements: a spirit that refuses to leave a kiln where a brutal murder took place, and a young girl apparently possessed by evil. What Rickman is very good at doing is creating a sense of foreboding, and building a suitably convoluted tale in a small village where the nouveau riche are exerting their financial power over those who have lived in the area for generations. Add to this Romany gypsies and a hint of black magic and you get the general idea. I'd say Rickman is an author who is consistently good without being consistently great. I think this is the sixth of his books that I have read, and they have all been intriguing and held my attention. I think all of them have been a little too long for the amount of story contained within, but his characters are very good (he has a real flair for dialogue) and the mysteries they become involved in are well-plotted with a fair amount of surprises thrown in. This is proving to be a very reliable and enjoyable series. 7/10

Glad you enjoyed Star Trek, pontalba. And Replay, it goes without saying!

I'm glad you enjoyed it, Tim. I loved it when I read it, too.

I've made a start on Phil Rickman's The Cure of Souls (Merrily Watkins Book 4)

Nice to know he maintains the standard. Not sure when I'll get to this one, but I look forward to it. I much, much prefer that cover art to that of the UK paperback.

Ended up buying three books today: The Children of the Sky by Vernor Vinge (sequel to AFUtD, so no surprise there! ) Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel (no surprise there, either!) and Downbelow Station by C. J. Cherryh - another Hugo Award winner that I first read about 30 years ago and found heavy going, but I've often thought of re-visiting it