Anthologies

I have nearly finished two books of short stories, both Star Trek. They
are Prophecy and Change, which is Deep Space Nine, and No Limits, which
is New Frontier.
Prophecy and Change takes moments from the series, and tells stories set
in those times. They are reasonably long stories, longer than those in
the Strange New Worlds anthologies, and a lot better, although some are
written by graduates from those books. In a lot of cases there are
nuances for the reader because we know what happens later to these
people. But it also suffers a bit occasionally for that same reason. We
know what will happen. But only occasionally.
No Limits is slightly different. It is stories from the pasts of the
various characters in New Frontier, before they joined Captain Calhoun.
But they are completely stand-alone. So they are interesting because
they are about people we have come to know, but we dont know how the
stories will come out. Once again, many of the authors got their starts
in the Strange New Worlds anthologies, and once again I think this
anthology is far better.
I found the stories in the latter anthology more interesting, possibly
because I find the characters more interesting. This may be because they
have only ever existed on paper, and are not the hallowed beings which
it seems compulsory to make the characters from the television shows. In
my fan fiction I make Riker a bit of a buffoon, but this would not be
allowed by editors. Some of the New Frontier people are able to behave
like buffoons at times, and writers only have to pass Peter David if
they want to write them thus!
Both of these books are very enjoyable. I havent quite finished either,
as I am spinning them out, which one may do with anthologies.

--
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