[Buecher] Voyages of Imagination -The Star Trek Fiction Companion

Baerbel Haddrell
===============




I am very impressed. The cover is gorgeous and it should definitely help
to get the attention it deserves. It is also very heavy which makes it a
bit difficult for me to read it in bed but that is a very minor
inconvenience.

Some books got more comments than others, which is natural but I have
also noticed that book descriptions themselves are extremely brief and
unsatisfying to me. I skipped nearly all of them and just read the
comments.

The book is an encyclopedia which means that Jeff Ayers, the author,
keeps his personal opinions to himself. The descriptions I have read are
very basic and void of any emotion. Maybe these were the reasons for it:
Jeff Ayers wanted to let the authors "talk" and not interfere with them.
Some authors might be uncomfortable, maybe even offended, it their book
or story gets a bad review. And too much information might put off
people who don`t like spoilers. Maybe there was some worry, if these
descriptions are too detailed, it will put off certain people to buy the
books. The same applies to negative reviews.

I understand that but I think it limits the book. I wish the book would
indeed not only offer the viewpoint of the individual author but of Jeff
Ayers as well. It would invite people to think and debate. If there is a
negative opinion, it could nevertheless be written in a way so that the
reader is invited to try the book and make up his own mind.

Whenever I read reviews here, I find the detailed ones much more
interesting, the ones that go more into the depth, the backgrounds of a
story. When you are afraid of having too many spoilers, it hampers such
insights and discussions. As I have seen in various magazines, I think
also this book should have sometimes such insights under a SPOILER
headline. People who don`t want to know could have skipped that and
people like me could have some additional information that I would enjoy
reading.

Putting that aspect aside, Voyages of the Imagination is an amazing
book. I like it that each entry also shows the cover art and a lot of
the comments authors gave was a fascinating read. I like it very much
that this book is not just giving praise. Authors talk about the
positive experiences they had but sometimes also about negative ones. I
could read about how stories were developed, why decisions were made.
Some of it was very interesting, some was a lot of fun to read... This
book is a valuable addition for any Star Trek fan, not only Star Trek
book fans. When I was looking for a present for a fellow Trekker, the
decision was easy: I bought another copy and am hoping he will enjoy the
book as much as I did.

I noticed that all stories get the same treatment. It doesn`t matter if
it is a full sized novel or a short story. I have no problem with that,
except my first impulse was to be a bit annoyed that SNW got the same
treatment. But later I thought, why not? The SNW writers would be
disappointed if this wouldn`t be the case and seeing that SNW is treated
the same will show the fans who participate that, if they win, they are
indeed professional writers.

What disappointed me is something else: My favourite Star Trek series is
New Frontier and I was looking forward to read comments about these
books. There are some very interesting ones among the entries about NF
books outside of the core series but all other NF books got no comments
whatsoever. There is so much PAD could have talked about! I would have
loved to read some of his insights. My second favourite series, DS9
Relaunch, was treated much better.

The timeline will be a very useful tool for me. I appreciate the work
that went into this impressive list.

I am hoping very much that this book sells well because in a few years,
I would love to read an update.

Baerbel Haddrell
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