{Sunday Post} - Jakob's Wife, ST: TNG: Shadows Have Offended, and The Final Girl Support Group

Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimberly @ Caffeinated Book Reviewer!

Good Morning, Everyone! 

 

A Sicky Weekend

I've been sick on and off for the past week. I felt halfway decent on Thursday and Friday, but whatever sickness this is, came crawling back on Saturday. I spent the morning hours cuddled up underneath a heavy blanket. In the afternoon, I watched the Kansas City Royals lose to the Toronto Blue Jays. I went back to bed before 6 PM and didn't wake until near 11 PM. And, now, here I am writing this post.

I don't believe it's the Delta variant. I haven't had a full-on fever. It all started in my nose and gradually moved up to my eyes, which has caused several sinus headaches. The extreme heat and dryness are probably the reason for my illnesses. My sinuses and allergies are always wacky when the humidity is high. Then my other aliment is a stiff neck, which is the result of napping on the couch during the baseball game. Rubbing a bit of Icy Hot seems to do the trick.  

 

What Am I Reading?

When I was feeling halfway decent on Friday, I started reading Star Trek: The Next Generation: Shadows Have Offended by Cassandra Rose Clarke. For many years, the TNG, DS9, and Voyager books have all had chronological settings. William T. Riker is now the captain of the USS Titan. The original Deep Space Nine got destroyed, and the Federation built a new space station in its place. Oddly, Shadows Have Offended is set just before the TNG series finale ("All Good Things . . ."). Typically, Gallery Books (formerly Pocket Books) only publishes new Trek novels by veteran Star Trek authors. However, Shadows Have Offended is Cassandra Rose Clarke's first time dabbing in the Trek universe.  

For me, there are three different types of Star Trek novels - novelizations, juniors, and old-school science fictions. Novelizations are either book adaptations of the episodes and movies. Juniors are what I call shorter stories that are lacking Trek terminology. These types of stories remind me of the water-down young adult tie-ins from the '80s and '90s. There's nothing wrong with these stories. They're just missing specific details and descriptions that only Trekkers would understand. Old-school science fictions are the longer and more detailed Trek novels written by veteran science fiction writers. These stories contain all the Trek terminology and have more in-depth descriptions of the starships, space stations, etc., and the plots are less episodic.  

(FYI: I hope everyone understands the above paragraph.)

Shadows Have Offended falls into the "juniors" category. I'm only five chapters in, but the story already has a late TNG 7th season vibe. There are two separate plots - one is a lighthearted episode involving Deanna Troi's mother, and the other is about an away team mission on the isolated planet Kota. 

Recent Reviews

Jakob's Wife

What's in the Mail? 

The only thing review-wise in the mail was Star Trek: The Next Generation: Shadows Have Offended by Casandra Rose Clarke.

What's New On the Bookshelf?

The only new book on my Kindle is The Final Girl Support Group by Grady Hendrix. It's a library rental that I'll be reading next.