You give me puns, I spread nerdery

I wanted to ask synthesizer tumblr for advice on using your first synth. The one that's coming is a korg monologue xd (the silver one)

In anime there is this trope called the time skip. Our favourite series skipped over a chunk of time and returned years later. the world has moved on, our characters have experienced growth we never got to see. maybe the time skip continues with our current characters (see Death Note, Dragonball, One Piece) or maybe it continues as a new series with the next generation (see Boruto)

However, as every fanfic writer knows: every trope can be sourced three ways: we cannot find the source, it goes back to ancient greece, or it goes back to Star Trek.

Whether or not it invented it (in this case i doubt it) is not something I'm willing to research. But star trek experiences two important time skips. the first time skip is called "the lost years", which takes place between the original series and the wrath of khan. We get one on-screen glimpse into it with the first film and then that's it. its name came from the J.M. Dillard novel of the same name.

The books also give it a decent exploration. Giving Jim a second five year mission. All of this prior to the years with the lovely monster maroon uniforms that many of us fans love dearly.

Then there's second time skip, The Lost Era. Similar name, and with little screen media in-between, often gets considered as the same era. but, I consider this era beginning with the launch of the Enterprise-B and the perceived death of Jim Kirk in 2293 and ending with the next-gen premier Encounter at Farpoint in 2364.

A 71 year gap is way larger than the decade between TOS and TWOK. and in my mind this gap is "the past". it's the future. i know it's not the past. and from another prominent era's perspective, it is the future. Star trek has three present-eras i guess in my mind. and anything between them is the past.

I think that's a limitation of writing because it's hard to acknowledge the future without it changing unless you make it written series law. and i think that's a bad idea, however that's my relationship with canon.

the lost era covers a massive stretch we barely know about from two different enterprises, Scotty's disappearance, the majority of Sulu's captaining of the excelsior, Spock doing james bond stuff on romulus, picard's longest stretch of time captaining a single ship, the cardassian occupation of bajor.

OH OH OH! for DS9 the lost era ends later. there's a whole "Terok Nor" trilogy of books in the Lost Era book series (yes, there's a lost era book series) about the final years of that station under cardassian occupation.

I'm gonna say up front: IN NO WAY AM I SAYING THAT THE AUTHORS INTENDED FOR STAR TREK NOVELS TO BE GROUPED INTO SEASONS. THIS JUST HELPS ME AS A READER LOOKING AT THE TOTALITY OF hundreds of books

I enjoy the idea of grouping the books in the season as if the books are on equal standing to the show (because in my heart and mind they are)

When they take place during the TV series they take place, it's quite easy. 2371 is DS9's third season. books in that year go there. easy peasy.

After the shows, I only do this up until Nemesis because afterwards everything changes organizationally. But also each show is different voyager doesn't really need it, there's only four books after Endgame.

DS9 I need to group them better because there's 19 books I've grouped as all one season. That's a lot of books for one season, I don't think there should be more than 12 in a season. I'll have to read them and group them by narrative/theming. the end of the Mission Gamma series might be good? I'll make a post about that eventually.

TNG I've put more attention to it. As a rule of thumb, the films act as season finales. You get three seasons that are 7-10 books long leading up to Insurrection. For books, that's a decent size of a season. But then after that film you get 24 books leading up to Nemesis. Way too long.

But the authors saved us, there happens to be one of two instances of what is kindof a structured season right there. The nine part A Time To... series about the year leading up to Nemesis.

TOS is also kinda tough but prior to The Wrath of Khan, I generally went by the number of books and just found a good split. Sometimes there were good narrative arcs that could be used as a slice (Rihannsu, and New Earth)

And because those two arcs were named, I had fun giving the rest of these "seasons" names. Those 6 seasons are in the picture below, you'll have to zoom in

I need to get out there soon and start collecting again. Being able to get a full season of either TOS or TNG's post-show books. Especially one where there's enough of an arc to feel like a season would be pretty great.

last one was broadly about how I structure the timeline, this one is more about my headcanons

point 1: My Personal Canon

I said this in a previous post, but generally believe that the books are equally canon as the shows and films. I do not believe the same for the comics. "Book-Jim is Screen-Jim. but Comic-Jim isn't Screen-Jim"

The world of star trek comics is not something I haven't taken a dive into yet, so i don't feel a connection to that world (though i do have some comics)

The 90s had connections between the books and comics (references/sequels/prequels), but as far as I can tell they were mostly separate worlds before and after that. Maybe I'm wrong, I should look into that.

My rule is different for the kelvin timeline however just due to how small that timeline is. Its expanded universe is built mostly within the comics and there's so little of everything else. So in that case, all the books, comics and video games released within that timeline are canon to me. It's just preference and creates less immediate work.

If I get into the comics, I may consider changing my mind one publisher at a time.

point 2: There Are Four Timelines!

I believe there are four timelines. and three of them are centered around the film First Contact.

Timeline Prime-A: All books, shows, and films released prior to First Contact.

Timeline Prime-B: All books, shows and films released prior to 2022 (that aren't within the kelvin timeline)

Kelvin Timeline: All official media written place within the timeline of the kelvin trilogy of films and the show Enterprise

Timeline Prime-C: All books, shows and films released up to the present date, except for the books in Prime-B taking place between First Contact and the novel trilogy Coda

(released in this case means printing date, and taking place means where they are in the timeline)

Here's where things get weird:

Looking at my wording, you'd be right to assume that I believe the show Enterprise didn't happen in timeline-A but did in the others. I believe that show only happened because of first contact

It's also entirely possible that there are stories that while they follow the rules that would qualify them to be in one timeline may actually be in another.

point 3: What About Time Travelers?

If multiple timelines exist without overwriting each other, how does time travel work?

That's a question for whoever decided Spock looks good with a beard. But I believe that time travelers can come to a shared past from different futures. Can that damage the structure of reality? yes.

As far as I'm aware, star trek hasn't done a story where people from a different future travel to their shared past. But I think it's possible, here's how I think returning to the future works (it would be fun to debate this)

If your changes aren't significant, you'll go back to the future the machine came from. If the machine is from the time you're leaving, it goes to the the timeline of the passenger(s). If the passengers are from different timelines, it goes to the passenger from the most likely future (not all futures are equally likely, but still exist. just because a 7 is the most likely outcome from rolling 2d6, it does not mean a 12 will never happen. you won't know until you roll)

point 3: "The prime timeline isn't the canon timeline. Discovery is woke bullshit. It's not Star Trek. blah-blah gay agenda"

In my previous post, I posted a brief timeline of the Star Trek TNG books that I believe take place in season 1 based on what I've read about them in summaries and on wikis. I have a larger timeline which I will share both in-full and in pieces as time goes on

point 1: I'm not an expert, just a girl trying to have fun

The most important point I will make is that my timeline is probably different from yours and that's okay. Plenty of these books are hard to place. And there are definitely inaccuracies. This timeline was built a few years ago, and some books were placed in a season based on the uniforms on the cover before I used memory-beta to get more details. That is not a good move. If you're into the Pocket TOS timeline, you know that is a major issue.

point 2: Formatting

When posting the timelines, this will generally be the format:

<book name> takes place <before/after/during> <different episode/book>

ex:

Crossover takes place after All Good Things

If I say "before" or "after", I mean that in my current interpretation of the timeline these two stories happen in this order and there are no stories currently written that take place between them

If I say "during" that means that these two stories are happening at the same time

point 3: Overlapping stories

In the case of a story where it is written like it is being remembered or told by someone at a later date (this kind of narration is called a framing story), I will not separate the framing story from the "main" story. In those stories, there are two (or more) possible places in the timeline. Generally speaking, this placement goes off on gut feeling based on which story is more important in the overall timeline.

For example, the main story for My Brother's Keeper by Michael Jan Friedman takes place fifteen years before the original series. however, it's framing story takes place after Where No Man Has Gone Before. In my opinion, this story is stronger in the later date even though there are more pages in the earlier date. To me, this story is about mourning the loss of Gary Mitchell and the birth of Jim's relationship with Spock.

point 4: Only The Second Digit Carries Meaning In TNG Stardates

Fun/exciting thing in my small (but hopefully growing) Star Trek book collection. The other day I picked up some Star Trek books and among the three was the first Pocket TNG novel Ghost Ship by Diane Carey.

And that's when I realised I am now only one book away from having all the Pocket TNG books that take place during the first season

There is room for debate, I'm not counting the novelization of Encounter at Farpoint. I generally don't count novelizations in my timeline. I'm also not counting the novel The Buried Age by Christopher L. Bennett as that novel ends about a month before Encounter at Farpoint. I'd consider it the finale of the stargazer sub-series. I'm also not counting anything released after the Coda trilogy in my timeline (Coda had a timeline reset)

That book I am missing though is Infection by John Gregory Betancourt. It is the 51st numbered Pocket TNG novel and the first book in the Double Helix sub-series of TNG novels.

I have to spend some time in my local used book stores looking for either the novel Infection or the Double Helix omnibus

For those curious, here is how these books take place in my season 1 timeline based on the research I've done:

#51 Infection takes place after The Naked Now

#01 Ghost Ship Takes place before The last Outpost

#02 The Peacekeepers takes place after Hide and Q

#03 The Children of Hamlin takes place after Symbiosis

#04 Survivors takes place after #03 The Children of Hamlin

#08 The Captains' Honor takes place after Skin of Evil

There's a turtle that you can hold in your arms.

While holding it, you cannot equip or use other items.

There's 12 hours of random wholesome dialogue between you and the turtle. The turtle talks? The turtle talks.

People will comment on the turtle but will not talk to it themselves. Perhaps they don't hear it?

On the other side of the map, there's this faction that is otherwise hostile towards you. Until you're holding the turtle. There's no hints at this.

They get really annoyed about this.

"why is nobody attacking them?"

"well, I'm not going to. They're holding a turtle"

normally on tumblr the hockey related content i see is either woho or habs. so, if you're a woho fan here's something different:

i don't talk a lot of hockey on this blog, but tonight i'm so shocked have to.

the vegas golden knights, the top team in the pacific division of the NHL has 93 points (2 points granted per win, 1 point per loss in overtime)

the bottom team in the division that's still making it to the playoffs this year has 90 points. that's a 3 point gap.

in the other 3 divisions the gaps are: 27 points (central division), 15 points (metro division), and 10 points (atlantic division)

this is insane. every team in the playoffs in the pacific has 1 game left (one of those is happening now, three happening tomorrow)

depending on how these four games go, the 2nd place team in the division could be 1st or as low as 4th.

the pacific division teams' points are so low, let's compare to how many points the bottom teams still going to the playoffs in the other division:

remember how i said the top team in the pacific has 93 points?

the lowest team that has clinched the playoffs in the central division has 92 points. that's only 1 less than them.

in the metro? 98 points. 5 more. and in the atlantic? 99 points

WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS WHOLE DIVISION??!!!!!?!

oh by the way, vegas is playing the seattle kraken. my beloved squid are in the bottom 6 of this 32-team league, and the bottom 3 of the western conference.

shots on goal are 11-6 for the kraken. no one has scored, we just started the second period.

this is ridiculous! i hope the knights get eaten alive by the squid tonight!

OH AND BY THE WAY, THE KRAKEN HAVEN'T LOST TO THE KNIGHTS AT ALL THIS SEASON.

i should not be mad at this, i don't pay attention to the western conference until the playoffs start. but i am.

I WAS DOING SOME QUICK EDITING BEFORE POSTING AND SEATTLE JUST SCORED. GO SQUID.

THE KNIGHTS CAN GET FUCKED AND STAY FUCKED. I HOPE THEY GET SWEPT IN THE PLAYOFFS

so, i'm scrolling through the wikipedia page on hamlet.

and there's a picture of an 19th century actor portraying hamlet. He looks familiar but i can't place it, so i go to his wikipedia page

me skimming the page: was an american stage actor.... performed shakespeare... considered by many to be the greatest american actor of the 19th century.... overshadowed by his youngest brother JOHN WILKES BOOTH?!