OEO>I fail completely to see where Peter David has gotten his reputation 
rom.
OEO>He's really only an average SF writer.
        Ah, perhaps he's average as far as the SF goes, but he assembles
 a story better than many I've seen recently.
OEO>True, he's head and
OEO>shoulders above the sad examples who write most of what
OEO>Pocket fobs off on us as Trek books, but compared to other
OEO>SF authors he's, well, just kinda OK.
        I agree with the "Sad examples" bit. But I maintain that Peter
David shows real talent in setting up a story and writing characters
into people we give a darn about.
OEO>Time to read some
OEO>*REAL* SF authors, people.  R.A. Heinlein, A.C. Clarke,
OEO>James Blish, Isaac Asimov, Ted Sturgeon, David Drake, Harry
OEO>Harrison, David Weber, Robert Sawyer, Harry Turtledove...
OEO>CFN, O
        I have just finished reading books by several of the authors on
your list.  Peter David actually writes better characterizations than
A.C. Clark or James Blish.
        Don't get me wrong, I'll happily read A.C. Clark's laundry
lists.  He deals with "Big Idea SF" as well as anybody except possibly
Niven.
        The major work I've read from Blish was "Cities in Flight" and
that was some time ago.  I don't seem to recall lots of characterization
in that one.
        Recently I read the first of Turtledove's World War books.  I
enjoyed it, although I can't say explicitly why.  I did wind up caring
what happened to the people and that's where a story seems to make or
break for me.
        I also like tight plots.  That's not something RAH is noted for,
but for him I make an exception.
        To see Peter David's real talent as a story craftsman, I
recommend the comics he writes.  Mind you, the writing in most comics
today is semi-literate garbage, but PD cheerfully does intelligent
subversive things with the characters.
        His Trek comics are good for this.
        I just finished the lastest "Honor Harrington" book from David
Weber.  Shameless Mary-Sueism.  I liked them to start with, but now I'm
waiting for him to get to the point.
        I wonder what if anything Honor Harrington's space opera setting
owes to Star Trek?
Jay P. Hailey 
Chief Editor
THE UNIVERSE: TREK
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 X OLX 2.1 TD X "Got any more good ideas, Jim?" - McCoy
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