Without any competition, Barnes & Noble has no incentive to offer the kinds of deals that Borders had, or even to stock varying products. There’s been countless times where I’ve searched for something that was normally stocked at Borders, but come up empty at Barnes & Noble.

This whole debacle got me growing more depressed about the impending death of print as a medium.

Since so much material is online nowadays, quality periodicals are becoming harder to come by. Aside from publications going out of business, many that are still in print are outdated by the time they hit shelves. The only magazine I read is Decibel, and the material in there isn’t duplicated, such as interviews and album reviews. I understand that you can find album reviews all over the ‘net, but Decibel‘s writers are some of the very few that I trust. But how much longer does the mag have in this day and age? To the best of my knowledge, it’s stable, but even niche publications like Decibel aren’t safe.

Then there’s books. Sales of e-books are starting to outpace their printed counterparts, and it’s a lot cheaper for a publisher to send out a file than print and ship a stack of books. Dedicated e-readers are cheap, and more advanced tablet computers like the iPad are perfect for reading digital books, magazines, comics…you name it.

Print’s slow death saddens me, as I vastly prefer physical media over a random collection of zeroes and ones. It’s a shame that we’re throwing away a longstanding tradition in favor of simple convenience.

That last bit is the fly in the ointment. As everyone knows, the last Star Trek film took place in an alternate timeline, often dubbed the “Abramsverse” after director J. J. Abrams. Love it or hate it, this was a sensible decision, as it brought in new fans to the Star Trek saga without burdening them with all that had come before.

However, the “prime” universe, where all of the other Star Trek series and movies took place, has taken a back seat. Merchandise and books are quite literally the only thing keeping the prime universe alive (fan productions nonwithstanding). As far as any new canon material is concerned…forget it.

It’s a shame, because as we all know, the prime universe stories far outclass the new film. Even if the next few Abramsverse films are mindblowing pieces of cinematic science fiction, they still can’t hold a candle to the powerful storytelling of the past four-plus decades.

The only official continuity coming down the line is Abramsverse stuff, and I bet that’ll extend to any new television productions as well. C’mon, we all know that Star Trek will make its triumphant return to television soon enough; it’s where the franchise began, and that’s where it’s always been at its best. My guess is that a new series will hit in the fall of 2016; the third Abramsverse film is sure to hit in 2015 (making it a neatly-wrapped trilogy), and the following year will be the 50th anniversary of Star Trek. That’s perfect timing, any way you want to slice it.

I still believe that the series would take place in the Abramsverse, albeit with a new ship and crew. Longtime Star Trek fans alone won’t be enough to keep a television series afloat, so the producers will need to draw in newcomers. There’s no easier way to do that than to tie it to the recent film continuity.

I mentioned that books are the only source of officially licensed stories taking place in the prime universe, even though they are not canon. In a bizarre reversal, a set of books based on the Abramsverse was cancelled, though some young adult novels were released. (Thankfully, they were free of vampires and werewolves.)

It would make my damned day if we got some new official prime universe stories, but I’m more likely to join the Q Continuum before that happens. The Abramsverse is here to stay…before the next inevitable reboot. I guess one can dream. How about another animated series? It’s been working well for Star Wars: The Clone Wars, and even a Star Trek Web series would be pretty awesome.

Make no mistake; this is the way media is moving forward, and we are powerless to stop it. Unfortunately, it also really sucks. You know me; I’m a fervent proponent of physical ownership over intangible licensing. But the cloud model actually takes things an ominous step further.

With most digital distribution models, you pay to download the content, which may or may not have usage restrictions via DRM. If whoever you purchased it from decides not to offer that content anymore, or worse, closes up shop, you at least have your downloaded copy to enjoy.

Not so with the cloud model. Now, you’re not even paying for the content itself; you’re just paying for access to that content. Which means that whoever’s hosting your library can remove content at their whim. And if they go out of business? Your media is now gone, and there’s nothing you can do about it.

A split between the two models would be best; Amazon’s recently-launched Cloud Player works this way. You can stream stuff all day and night, but it lets you upload your own files and download files purchased through Amazon. Now you can have backups of all of your stuff, and still enjoy it on the go from any Internet-enabled device. (Apple will be launching something similar as part of iTunes.) That kind of setup I don’t have a problem with, and I can only hope it becomes the standard. The only downside is that you have to pay a lot more if you’ve got a large media library, and many of us do.

I know physical media’s on its way out in favor of content providers having much greater control and telling you exactly what you can do with your media, but damn it, I’m going to hold out as long as I can. Hey, if vinyl LPs are still around, I think my CD collection will be safe for quite sometime.

For further reading on this topic, especially as it relates to music, check out the following two pieces by Vince Neilstein over at MetalSucks:

• Amazon Beats Apple and Google to the Cloud, Launches “Cloud Player” Music Streaming Service

• Amazon Cloud Player to Record Labels: “Fuck Off!”

I’d also suggest that you read the comments on those pieces. Aside from the usual Internet flamebait and trolling, there some interesting discussion happening there.

The Doctor needs new recurring antagonists that are morally ambiguous.

The bad guys on the show are almost always pure evil, with no shades of gray. Not only that, but the most popular villainous races — the Daleks, the Cybermen, the Sontarans, and so forth — have gotten incredibly silly. (I’m sick to death of the Daleks. They fucking suck, people. Get over it.) The Doctor’s malicious archenemy, the Master, has become a joke; he’s supposed to be out of regenerations, but he keeps coming back. Out of the new crop of villains, the Weeping Angels are great, but work best when used very sparingly. But even then, they’re simply malevolent.

So the Doctor clearly needs someone who will clash with him, but whose motives and morality will constantly remain unclear. They might even end up working towards a common goal more often than not, but still be shrouded in mystery and confusion. Shades of gray make for much more interesting storytelling than the simple “defeat the bad guys” trope.

My recommendation? Faction Paradox.

I know Faction creator Lawrence Miles would likely never permit this, but for the sake of argument, let’s pretend it’s possible.

In a nutshell, Faction Paradox was once one a powerful house of Time Lords that went rogue. Now, they muck about in time for their own purposes, using unique time travel methods, alternate universes, and bizarre rites. The Doctor’s faced plenty of nefarious time travelers before, but none quite like these guys. What the Faction is up to is never clear-cut, and if portrayed correctly, they wouldn’t always be the bad guys. They’d equally be good, bad, and anywhere in between. That’s the entire point of their existence.

Faction Paradox first appeared in many Doctor Who novels featuring the Eighth Doctor, but later spun off into their own series. The reason for this is that their “swan song” in the Doctor Who novel The Ancestor Cell was godawful, and Miles has stated that it most certainly does not count in continuity. (Miles did not write Cell; it was handled by Peter Anghelides and Stephen Cole in order to close the Doctor Who Faction storyarc.)

Faction Paradox was explored much further in their own series, and their robust history, politics, and character would be a perfect fit for the current Doctor Who series. Their motives are never black and white, and while that may not be easy for the series’ younger viewers, the adults would certainly appreciate it. I beats one-dimensional baddies like the Daleks and friends any day of the week.

If nothing else, robed villains in skull masks would sell quite a few action figures.

“What? Do I have something on my face?”

Now let’s get started. First order of business? Comics. In college, I was working on many projects related to the comic book industry. It was only natural that I eventually wanted to publish my own comics work; I wasn’t a good artist, but I had written up quite a few stories: a scifi/action series (Ground Zero), a scifi/horror series (Decon Squad), and a superhero series (Resurgence). I even produced an animated trailer for that last one!

I tried to get other artistically inclined folks on board. My efforts flopped, and in some cases, talented artists made no bones about telling me how awful my story ideas were. I ended up going the webcomic route a few years later, but real-world concerns shuttered that after three years (along with the fact that my art was crap).

From here, we can naturally segue into my piss-poor attempts at creative writing. I’ve had various science fiction and fantasy stories whirling about my head for over twenty years, but every time I’ve tried to commit them to text, I can never properly translate my ideas. Sure, I write blog entries here and there, and contribute to Musician Photo Journal, but that’s not the same. It’s also nonfiction, which I find considerably easier to write (as evidenced by what you’re reading right now).

Then there’s music. One of my biggest regrets was my failure to keep up on my guitar playing over the past decade. I lay the blame for this squarely at my own feet: I was lazy and easily distracted, and that’s all there is to it. I got my own guitar as a birthday present in the fall of 2000, which was my final semester in college. I played a hell of a lot in my dorm room, and my skills noticeably improved. (I’m also self-taught, so my definition of “improved” may vary compared to others.) Once I got out of school, I still played, but it fell by the wayside a bit once I got a full time job, moved out, et cetera. Even at my slow, self-taught pace, if I had kept at it over the past ten years, I’d be a hell of a lot better by now. I’ve been kicking myself a lot over this lately, and I deserve the self-flagellation. If I had stayed on target, I could’ve at least recorded an EP or something by now. (I don’t know any other musicians with similar tastes in extreme metal, but that’s what drum machines and GarageBand are for.)

Perhaps someday the creative impulses misfiring within my cranium might coalesce into something viable. But until that day comes, you’ll just have to suffer along with me as I write nothing but meandering blog entries.

We could be here for weeks discussing them all, so for today, we’re just going to focus on five of them, each from a different medium. Some of the hatred directed at these may surprise you, given how influential each one is…but read on!

• The Da Vinci Code. We all know about the shitstorm that this 2003 novel whipped up, which was amplified by the 2006 film adaptation. Author Dan Brown certainly didn’t help matters any by making some controversial statements, not to mention that far too many people took the novel seriously. Even though the preface claimed that the book was based on “real” events and organizations, that’s irrelevant: it’s still a piece of fiction, from cover to cover. I’ve read science fiction novels with “historian’s notes” in their prefaces, and those aren’t real, either. Anyway, I’ve noticed in my experience that a majority of people who hate The Da Vinci Code have one thing in common: they’ve never read it. From right-wing Christians to bookworms, The Da Vinci Code was met with scorn and derision from folks who were unfamiliar with the work as a whole. Look, it’s certainly not the works of Shakespeare, but that doesn’t make it any less of an entertaining page-turner.

• Genesis. Specifically, it’s the post-Peter Gabriel lineup of this legendary progressive rock band that draws ire. Gabriel was largely responsible for Genesis making a huge splash in the early 1970s, but he departed from the band in order to pursue a solo career in 1975. Phil Collins replaced Gabriel on vocals, and the band went on to record countless albums after that, including the insanely popular Invisible Touch in 1986. (We all know “Land of Confusion,” don’t we?) Even back in the days before Internet message boards, fans flipped the fuck out. Somehow, Collins’ work was seen as a bad thing by “traditional” Genesis fans, and their ridiculous vitriol continues to this day. If you don’t like the Collins-era stuff, that’s fine, but these nutjobs barely even gave the stuff a chance. (Further exposition on this topic can be found on Writing the Scree.)
• Avatar. James Cameron’s box office smash was a great movie, but the legions of angry film snobs attacking it came as a bit of a surprise. The biggest complaint against the film is the story, and that I can least understand; it’s certainly nothing original. However, Cameron himself has admitted this, as his intent was in the telling of the story, not the story itself. Very few snobs hold other films’ stories up to the same lofty standards; let’s face it, most films these days aren’t original by a long shot. Another popular complaint is one that doesn’t hold a lot of water: Avatar is singularly blamed for Hollywood jumping on the 3D bandwagon all of a sudden. While Avatar certainly helped popularize that style of cinematography, people seem to forget that 3D films have been around for a long time. And I don’t mean the classic red-and-cyan glasses type, either; Disney and other studios have been releasing modern 3D films for years now. The technology was going to spread even without Avatar‘s success.
• Star Trek. When it comes to science fiction television’s influence on real-world technology, Star Trek certainly tops the list. It’s largely responsible for such innovations as cellphones, but that hasn’t stopped folks from trashing it. I know that its reputation as an “intellectual” science fiction show doesn’t endear it to most, as most plots revolve around advanced science, complicated technology, and problem solving, rather than the violent action sequences which make up a majority of modern science fiction. But that’s no reason for disgust, is it? The blind Star Trek hate could also be because it’s “old,” a pushback against truly nerdy genres such as “old school” science fiction…or something else. I know I’ve mentioned this before (on more than one occasion), but I must reiterate: a lot of the Star Trek hate comes from rabid Star Wars fans. In fact, the entire subplot of the film Fanboys was the main characters going out of their way to insult Star Trek fans. (And, of course, the Trekkies in the film were portrayed as idiots). It should also be noted that while there are hardcore Star Wars geeks, the franchise as a whole is not a nerdy one. It’s a pop culture tour de force, and unlike Star Trek, there’s no automatic nerd or geek stigma if you enjoy it. (In fact, it’s quite the opposite.) But back to my original point. There’s a lot of hate for hatred’s sake when it comes to Star Trek, and I can’t help but wonder: how many of these haters have even watched a Star Trek episode or movie? (Preferably not a shitty one; you can’t judge the whole Star Wars franchise based on the prequels, after all.)
• Superman. You wouldn’t think the Man of Steel would be reviled by many, but hear me out. The ultimate superhero archetype has been around since 1938, and every superhero that followed owes their livelihood to Superman in one way or another. No superhero is more influential, nor ever will be. Yet the negativity against ol’ Kal-El never seems to cease. From whining about his costume (“it’s too old-fashioned”) to grumbling about his powers (“too powerful”) to eye-rolling at his weakness to Kryptonite (“that makes no sense”), you’d think that there aren’t any Superman fans at all out there. (Of course, we know that over seventy years of comics, films, games, and television shows put that worry to rest.) Cripes, look at the comic book losers who whined about Superman Returns. The complaints I’ve heard about that film range from borderline to certifiably ridiculous, and they all translate to a simple belief: “Superman sucks.” I’ve heard little to no constructive criticism of the film, just fanboy whining. I certainly believe that this just boils down to dislike of the character himself. (Which begs the question: why did they even bother seeing Superman Returns in the first place?)

Feel free to bring up your own examples in the comments. I may revisit this idea in the future, as there’s certainly no shortage of things that people despise to make themselves feel better. Maybe I’ll even tackle that stupid Red Sox/Yankees rivalry…

I’ve been heavily invested in the genre ever since childhood, and I place 99% of the blame for this on my old man. (The other 1% was my natural childhood fascination with all things scientific.) You see, my father read a lot of science fiction novels when he was growing up, and when I was a kid, I rifled though his endless boxes of them. It was here that I learned about all of the classic science fiction writers. Science fiction television and film may be great, but anyone worth their salt knows that the absolute best in science fiction is always found in book form. (And given my disappointment with recent science fiction television, I’ve been delving even more into books lately.)

If it was in those boxes, I read it. I’m sure I’m forgetting quite a few, but just to rattle off some names: Ray Bradbury, Isaac Asimov, Poul Anderson, James P. Hogan, Robert Heinlein, Philip K. Dick, Arthur C. Clarke, Frederick Pohl, Ursula K. LeGuin, Larry Niven, Cordwainer Smith, Clifford D. Simak…seriously, just pick a legendary science fiction author, and I can guarantee that I’ve read at least a few of their books thanks to my father’s collection and the local libraries. My father was also responsible for introducing me to the Dune saga, and I’ve been [Maker] hooked ever since. My home library of Frank Herbert’s works now spans an entire shelf!

I’m telling you, I filled my head to the brim with that stuff, especially hard science fiction. It was so chock-full, it’s a wonder I was able to process other more important items, like schoolwork, eating, and breathing. Even my favorite comic book characters, like Green Lantern, Iron Man, Firestorm, and Adam Strange are all completely based in the realm of science fiction! When I was a kid, no one else was into the genre, but that didn’t really register; in retrospect, I suppose it made sense that the other kids were more interested in sports and video games than a bunch of dusty old books.

I’ve kept up on my passion for science fiction throughout my entire life. I enjoy a wide variety of science fiction television, film, and other media. I’ve also gotten into the “new breed” of science fiction writers over the years, like Neal Stephenson and Timothy Zahn, as well as picking up novels by classic authors that I missed, such as E. E. “Doc” Smith’s Lensman series and the works of Richard Matheson.

Nowadays, science fiction is arguably more popular then ever, primarily in the film and television realms. Regardless, I find myself standing apart from my peers when it comes to the span of my familiarity with the genre. This is not a holier-than-thou proclamation, simply a statement of fact. I’ve just noticed that most of my peers aren’t into science fiction to begin with, and the ones that do enjoy the genre rarely (if ever) explore the breadth of the material out there, especially its written form. (The latter certainly isn’t their fault, as most people don’t read for pleasure these days as it is!) This unfamiliarity can be personally frustrating, as when I try to have engage in conversation about much of this stuff, I get blank stares.

I don’t understand why someone would refer to themselves as a fan of a genre when they have very little experience with it, or sometimes refuse to experience anything but a few small pieces. To use a non-fandom example, it would be like someone who’s read a medical textbook calling themselves a doctor. Now, this is different than being a fan of a specific property within a genre, or even a subgenre. There’s fans of the Star Trek film that came out last year, but who do not consider themselves fans of the Star Trek franchise in general. I’m also not trying to say that any self-proclaimed science fiction should check out and enjoy every new bit of genre material that comes along, either. We all know that like any other genre of fiction, there’s an extreme amount of absolute shit when it comes to science fiction.

Obviously, other hardcore science fiction fans do exist out there, and the Internet would provide the best way to connect with them. However, as with most things, I’m very reluctant to join Internet forums and the like devoted to science fiction. Intelligent discussion I can handle; fanboyism and nerd debates I can not. As we know, that’s what a majority of message board topics devolve into, so I tend to stay the hell out. Another idea would be science fiction conventions, but those can be very scary places. There’s not much left after that, but I’ve gotten along just fine so far, so I’ll just have continue forging the path alone.

While numerous versions of the tale exist, today we’ll be examining the version commonly seen in book form, retold by “Rowdy” Watty Piper. (That’s not even a real person, mind you; it’s just a pseudonym used by the publisher, Platt & Munk.) Even more specifically, we’re using the 1976 Golden Anniversary Edition, with illustrations by Ruth Sanderson.

(When I was a little kid, I had the 1961 edition with illustrations by George and Doris Hauman, but that’s been lost to the sands of time. I even had a 45rpm record of the story, and who the hell knows what happened to that thing.)

Anyway…all aboard!

The story begins as a train filled with toys, games, snacks, and other goodies is heading towards town. Once there, its cargo will be distributed to the local children. Being a children’s story, of course, all of the toys as well as the train’s locomotive are sentient beings, which is downright creepy. And yes…there are clowns. Seriously, check out this creepy little bastard!

You know he’s plotting to knife some kid in their sleep, or drag them down into the sewers below Derry, Maine. But let’s get back to the story. Unfortunately, their red 4-4-0 steam locomotive breaks down right before the last mountain she needs to scale. The dolls, clowns, and other toys can’t repair the broken locomotive themselves, so they have no choice but to hang out and wait for another engine to come along so they can beg it to take them over the mountain. Did it ever occur to them to just send someone back along the train’s route to find help? What if another engine never came along?

Well, their luck holds out, as a Shiny New Engine comes along shortly. While the front end of this locomotive looks like a GG1, it’s got loads of small driving wheels with connecting rods. It’s clearly a steam engine, but of indeterminate type. Anyway, the toys ask the engine for help, and it declares that it’s a Passenger Engine that only takes important adults from place to place. It couldn’t possibly demote itself to pulling a bunch of toys and kids’ stuff! The Passenger Engine takes off, leaving the saddened toys by the rails. What a dick.

After being spurned by the Passenger Engine, the group’s next chance at assistance is a Big Strong Engine. This one’s a 2-6-0 steam locomotive, and he rumbles that he’s a Freight Engine. His job is to haul big machines and printing presses to town, so that adults will have their morning papers and other such necessities. Like the Passenger Engine before him, the Freight Engine also tells the toys to fuck off.

It should be noted that each of the engines that came down the tracks did so alone. This is practically unheard of on a railroad! Sending out a locomotive without any trailing cars is a colossal waste of resources. The only time a locomotive goes without cargo is if it’s in need of serious repair, and even then, it’s always got another locomotive pushing or pulling it. Which makes the tale of the next candidate all the more depressing.

Things aren’t looking good for our group of kids’ playthings. Then, along comes a Rusty Old Engine. An antique 4-4-0 steam engine, this poor bastard’s all alone, too, and he’s lucky to squeak his way down the rails. When begged for help, he says that he can barely get back to his roundhouse for repairs, and he sadly trundles off, leaving the toys in an even deeper state of despair. Cripes, why don’t you make the old goat feel bad about it? Unlike the other two douchebag engines, at least this guy’s not being arrogant. Far from it; he’s fully accepting of his own physical limitations. Still, it’s implied that he’s just yet another engine that won’t do the job, and we should pity the toy train more than him! Is this the level of disrespect we should feel towards our elders?!

Ahem. At long last, a small blue 4-2-4 steam locomotive comes down the tracks. She’s a switcher used at the local yard to assemble trains that bigger engines will take on their way, and hardly the type used to haul cargo over long distances. Still, the toys are desperate, and she agrees to the job, repeating her mantra of “I think I can.” The mountain grade is rough, and the little blue engine strains to her limits. Against all odds, she manages to pull the train over the top of the mountain, and the delivery is made to the waiting children in town.

Happy ending, right? But…whatever happened to the original locomotive that pulled the train? The toys didn’t even bother to send for help, or ask any of the other locomotives to ask for assistance once they got where they were going. They just left their original engine to rot! Disloyal little fuckers, aren’t they? No wonder the Passenger Engine and Freight Engine brushed ‘em off. Perhaps the toys’ reputation preceded them.

As you can see, while the tale of will versus adversity is prevalent, The Little Engine That Could still has a seedy underbelly. The other engines seemed like assholes, but the laziness of the toys is just as clear, and given their ignorance of the original engine, I can hardly blame the other engines’ actions. I doubt they’d want to be worked to death then left behind, either. I pity the little blue engine…she’s in for a rough life, if the fate of the red engine is any indication.

This is not to be confused with being excited for future projects by a favorite creator; the difference is recognizing loss of quality when it applies. No creator has a perfect track record; everybody’s human, after all.

I’m a fan of writer J. Michael Straczynski, especially his work on Babylon 5 and Rising Stars, so I was eager to check out his take on Spider-Man in the early 2000s. Well, it started out good…but then it went straight into the shitter. Some JMS fans still praised it as the best thing to the happen to the book; I wonder what was going through their heads, because diehard Spidey fans certainly didn’t agree.

Furthering the comic book example, let’s look at novelist Charlie Huston. He’s written quite a few popular novels; I read one of them (Already Dead), and while I didn’t find it to be awful, I didn’t find it to be great, either. It was just an average urban vampire novel. (And we know how that whole genre has been beaten to death.) Like many other comic book readers, however, I first discovered his work through the relaunch of Moon Knight a few years back. Well, Huston’s novels may be decent…but his comic book work was atrocious. The Moon Knight relaunch read like a crappy Grand Theft Auto clone, focusing on excessive violence and shock value rather than character development or adherence to the source material. Yet, fans of his Moon Knight work automatically praised his novels, and vice versa!

This kind of fanboy loyalism just doesn’t make any sense to me. You’re not bound by law to automatically defend your favorite properties, nor are you required to like the entire breadth of a creator’s work. If they go sour, so what? You gotta take the good with the bad. It happens to everyone and everything. Just ask any Star Wars fan.

Jeez, I even see people defending things they haven’t even seen yet!

Notice that I said they were scheduled. Mack recently announced on his blog that the books have been indefinitely postponed. Why? In the publisher’s own words:

“With last summer’s blockbuster Star Trek movie, J. J. Abrams created a new vibrant, layered version of the Star Trek universe. After careful consideration, we decided to hold off on telling new stories while J. J. and his team continue to develop his vision.”

Now, the authors in question were saddened by this, but respect the publisher’s decision. While I understand the publisher’s stance, I still find it to be a bit of a slap in the face.

These are some of my favorite modern science fiction authors, so it’s rather grating to see their hard work brushed aside so callously. Trek novels may be non-canon, but that doesn’t make them any less enjoyable. In fact, modern Trek fiction not only fleshes out characters, technology, and history, but it also helps fill in the gaps and rectify inconsistencies in the canon material that can’t (or won’t) otherwise be addressed. The latest Trek film had its share of problems, but I still loved it. It would’ve been great to see how these skilled authors worked within the brave new world that Abrams and crew have forged. New series and movies have never stopped the publishing schedule before, so why change things now, at the expense of the authors and their readers?

If that wasn’t bad enough, now we’ve got a gaping hole in the Trek publishing schedule. There’s other fiction set to be released later in the year, but that’s still a long time to wait to get our Trek fix.

There’s still a possibility that these books may see the light of day in the future, but I’m not holding my breath, to be honest. In the meantime, please support the four authors whose books were unceremoniously dumped! Their Trek works are fantastic, and well worth your hard-earned cash. Get your ass to the bookstore!