From History's Shadow by Dayton Ward

With all this talk of The X-Files reboot, I returned to watching the last two seasons of the TV series. What's left of it that I had on VHS cassette anyway. Over time, I have a whole new appreciation for these episodes. Which makes my recent read of Dayton Ward's From History's Shadow that much more exciting.

This story takes the reader through the two times James T. Kirk's travel back into Earth's past and fills in the gaps in between with some familiar faces from Star Trek canon and interesting new characters.

As a fan of the UFO genre, the written details were very easy to visualize. It gave the story a tone that was reminiscent of the early seasons of The X-Files and an ambiance similar to the Dark Skies TV series.

This was the first time I've read a new novel from Star Trek The Original Series and not been disappointed by it as I have been with The Next Generation relaunch.

Looking forward to what the author will come up with next.

The Five Foot Road: In Search of a Vanished China by Angus McDonald

A recent article from the Globe and Mail, Celebrating Canadian non-fiction, er, factual writing recognizes the efforts of non-fiction writers in Canada.

“I’ve always described it as the toughest writing of all, because you need to use all the novelist’s bag of tricks – pacing, figures of speech, compelling characters, narrative momentum – but at the same time it has to be true.” Despite its dubious commercial value, “more and more Canadian writers are mastering this most challenging genre,” says veteran author Katherine Ashenburg, a former judge for the Writers’ Trust prize.

I find it truly engaging to read non-fiction. If I wasn't looking for something to read, I would never have come across these. Book exchanges and discount tables are a great place find them.
Amazon.com: The Five Foot Road: In Search of a Vanished China (9780062586537): Angus McDonald: Books

Amazon.com: The Elsewhere Community (The Massey lectures series) (9780887846076): Hugh Kenner: Books 

Mentions of Jasper Fforde

Here is Ryan Mcgee's Recap: 'Fringe' - 'Marionette': "In some ways, last week’s episode of “Fringe” could have served as a perfectly satisfactory Fall finale for the show. Getting the two Olivias back to their home universes could have marked the end of one block of programming and allowed things to start from there next January,..."

Olivia and Fauxlivia are both the heroines of their respective tales, or at least until they were stepped into each others’ novels. Now Olivia Dunham is a broken version of Tuesday Next. (Written, of course, by Jasper Ffringe.)

In Ryan's Mcgee's review, he made a reference to Jasper Fforde and the heroine in his Thursday Next series. Thursday Next has the ability to jump from fiction to fiction, quite literally taking part in the story. In a way, he likens the experience of the two Olivias to jumping into each other's book. You know. I've been a big fan of the book series and I never looked at Fringe that way before.

Star Trek Fan Fiction

Welcome to the Delta Quadrant - Written by a writing team known only as whoa nellie. They have infuse a lot of the characters from all the later Star Trek series in their own timeline masterfully. It is the only romance fiction I can read, at the moment. It's organic and doesn't read too much like Imzadi.

Every time I read, I can't help but include in the review, a recall to the episodes that a particular reference is from. I look forward to reading more from them. "Let's see what's out there."