Gila Sadar

Seventh Book Club Meet Time Decided - "Titan #1: Taking Wing" by Michael A. Martin Designated Reading For the next meet-up, and the first meet-up of the Titan book, we will be reading Chapters 1 - 4. OBS: As always, it is NOT mandatory to stick to our reading schedule. You may read faster or slower than the rest of us, if you wish, but keep in mind that our discussions in the Book Club thread will be conducted with the above reading pace in mind. This means that, if you read FASTER, please refrain from spoiling the contents of the book for the rest of us, and if you read SLOWER, enter at your own risk, as our Book Club meetings will likely contain spoilers for your own reading. Meeting Time Decided! The vote for the Book Club Meet-Up has been concluded! Our next meeting been scheduled for Sunday the 3rd of March, 8PM UTC. Discussions will properly start up at around 8:15!! My apologies for the very late announcement!

Future Reading of the Book Club These are the contenders for the next book of the SB118 Book Club, to be commenced after our final meeting for Avatar (Book One). No, Avatar (Book Two) is NOT in the running. The list has been comprised of three books from our original list that got more than 1 vote, and some more books that have been recommended by Book Club partakers and interested parties. The Books will be posted to the Book Club Voting-thread on Discord, where you should react to each book you'd like to read with a 'Heart' reaction. Every potential reader gets three hearts to dole out on the book vote, so please keep that in mind! Without further ado, here are the contending books: "Imzadi" - by Peter David During delicate negotiations with an aggressive race called the Sindareen, Deanna Troi mysteriously falls ill and dies, and Commander Riker sets out on a journey across time to bring her back to life. "The Lost Years" - by J.M. Dillard After the end of the Enterprise's five-year mission, Captain Kirk, Mr. Spock, and Dr. McCoy struggle to establish new lives apart from each other and the starship. The newly-promoted Admiral Kirk is placed in charge of a specially-created Starfleet division and attempts to defuse a critical hostage situation; Mr. Spock, who, in the midst of a teaching assignment on Vulcan, finds the one thing he least expected; and Dr. McCoy, whose unerring instinct for trouble lands him smack in the middle of an incident that could trigger an interstellar bloodbath. "Titan #1: Taking Wing" - by Michael A. Martin William Riker, former first officer of the USS Enterprise in Star Trek: The Next Generation, takes command of the new USS Titan in this white-knuckled adventure perfect for longtime and new Star Trek fans. "I, Q" - by John De Lancie and Peter David In a story told by the actor who played "Q" in the popular TV series, the mischievous super-being joins forces with his nemesis, Captain Picard, to save the universe from the Maelstrom, a metaphysical whirlpool of apocalyptic dimension that is devouring time and space. "Spock's World" - by Diane Duane It is the twenty-third century. On the planet Vulcan, a crisis of unprecedented proportion has caused the convocation of the planet's ruling council -- and summoned the U.S.S. Enterprise? from halfway across the galaxy, to bring Vulcan's most famous son home in its hour of need.As Commander Spock, his father Sarek, and Captain James T. Kirk struggle to preserve Vulcan's future, the planet's innermost secrets are laid before us, from its beginnings millions of years ago to its savage prehistory, from merciless tribal warfare to medieval court intrigue, from the exploration of space to the the development of o'thia -- the ruling ethic of logic. And Spock -- torn between his duty to Starfleet and the unbreakable ties that bind him to Vulcan -- must find a way to reconcile both his own inner conflict and the external dilemma his planet faces...lest the Federation itself be ripped asunder. "The Autobiography of Kathryn Janeway" - by Una McCormack Kathryn Janeway reveals her career in Starfleet, from her first command to her epic journey through the Delta Quadrant leading to her rise to the top as vice-admiral in Starfleet Command. Discover the story of the woman who travelled further than any human ever had before, stranded decades from home, encountering new worlds and species. Explore how she brought together Starfleet and the Maquis as part of her crew, forged new alliances with species across the galaxy and overcame one of Starfleet’s greatest threats – the Borg – on their own remote and hostile territory. Get Janeway’s personal take on key characters such as Seven of Nine, her trusted friend Tuvok, new arrivals like Neelix and her second-in-command, Chakotay.

And this, ladies and gentlemen, is called picking up the ball that’s been put down and bloody running with it 😂 Props to @Vitor S. Silveira and @Jovenan for setting up and executing the joke flawlessly. (And we’re talking about cooking night👍)

Also, in spite of how much I complain in Discord, I'll likely never forget this particular promotion, so I'd be remiss not to give proper appreciation 🤣 @Addison MacKenzie always cuts an imposing figure, especially when (ostensibly) complimenting people!

@Savel's internal comments are always extremely hilarious, and his latest Sim has a few of them, but none that evoked the very distinct Savel-ness as the following.

Don’t get used to it, ‘cause I’m never getting promoted again 😑

You know when I’m available, Liv 😉 So long as it’s during the evening / weekend nights, I’m game

Our most recent Ensign landing with a splash 😄 Who wants to be the one to tell him that two of our Top Brass Trifecta are Telepaths?

Sixth (and Penultimate) Book Club Meet Time Decided - "Avatar (Book One)" by S.D. Perry Designated Reading For the next meet-up, we will be reading Chapters 15 - 18. OBS: As always, it is NOT mandatory to stick to our reading schedule. You may read faster or slower than the rest of us, if you wish, but keep in mind that our discussions in the Book Club thread will be conducted with the above reading pace in mind. This means that, if you read FASTER, please refrain from spoiling the contents of the book for the rest of us, and if you read SLOWER, enter at your own risk, as our Book Club meetings will likely contain spoilers for your own reading. Sixth Meeting Time Decided! The vote for the Book Club Meet-Up has been concluded! Our next meeting been scheduled for Friday the 26th of January, 8PM UTC. Discussions will properly start up at around 8:15, as per usual! Show up ready to almost have finished this book Future Reading Since we're almost done with this book, I recommend everyone to start considering possible contenders for the next Book Club Book! During our last vote, where we chose "Avatar (Book One)" by S.D. Perry (boy, did we not know what we were getting into), these following books received more than one vote: "Imzadi" - by Peter David During delicate negotiations with an aggressive race called the Sindareen, Deanna Troi mysteriously falls ill and dies, and Commander Riker sets out on a journey across time to bring her back to life. "The Lost Years" - by J.M. Dillard After the end of the Enterprise's five-year mission, Captain Kirk, Mr. Spock, and Dr. McCoy struggle to establish new lives apart from each other and the starship. The newly-promoted Admiral Kirk is placed in charge of a specially-created Starfleet division and attempts to defuse a critical hostage situation; Mr. Spock, who, in the midst of a teaching assignment on Vulcan, finds the one thing he least expected; and Dr. McCoy, whose unerring instinct for trouble lands him smack in the middle of an incident that could trigger an interstellar bloodbath. "Titan #1: Taking Wing" - by Michael A. Martin William Riker, former first officer of the USS Enterprise in Star Trek: The Next Generation, takes command of the new USS Titan in this white-knuckled adventure perfect for longtime and new Star Trek fans. These books are reentered into the vote, but I'd love it if the vote for the next book could be between 5 or 6 books, so please make your suggestions

Fifth Book Club Meet Time Decided - "Avatar (Book One)" by S.D. Perry Designated Reading For the next meet-up, we will be reading Chapters 13 - 15. OBS: As always, it is NOT mandatory to stick to our reading schedule. You may read faster or slower than the rest of us, if you wish, but keep in mind that our discussions in the Book Club thread will be conducted with the above reading pace in mind. This means that, if you read FASTER, please refrain from spoiling the contents of the book for the rest of us, and if you read SLOWER, enter at your own risk, as our Book Club meetings will likely contain spoilers for your own reading. Fifth Meeting Time Decided! The vote for the third Book Club Meet-Up has been concluded! Our next meeting been scheduled for Sunday the 7th of January, 8PM UTC. Discussions will properly start up at around 8:15, as per usual, but pop on in whenever you can to share your opinions with the rest of us Look forward to seeing you all for the first Book Club of 2401!

In terms of availability, Star Trek Adventures is a lovely system that allows for changing players quite well. It's also a game system where it's advantageous for some players to have two different characters, because it really isn't always a good idea for the Captain to go on Away Missions! Thusly, it wouldn't be farfetched (depending on how many want to play), that the playing group can consist of different people from session to session. In terms of availability, I'm in the GMT+1 timezone, but if sessions are placed on Fridays or Saturdays, I'm not opposed to making myself available at a time that suits our American/Australian friends better, in case the group schews more towards those timezones. (Have previously done this with a Vampire: the Masquerade-group, where I woke up at 03:00 every Sunday to play with my all-American group xD)

Fourth Book Club Meet Time Decided - "Avatar (Book One)" by S.D. Perry Designated Reading For the next meet-up, we will be reading Chapters 10 - 12 (Page 122 - 149). OBS: As always, it is NOT mandatory to stick to our reading schedule. You may read faster or slower than the rest of us, if you wish, but keep in mind that our discussions in the Book Club thread will be conducted with the above reading pace in mind. This means that, if you read FASTER, please refrain from spoiling the contents of the book for the rest of us, and if you read SLOWER, enter at your own risk, as our Book Club meetings will likely contain spoilers for your own reading. Fourth Meeting Time Decided! The vote for the third Book Club Meet-Up has been concluded! Our next meeting been scheduled for Friday the 8th of December, 8PM UTC. Discussions will properly start up at around 8:15, so don't feel pressured to be there on the dot. I'll be there sharp-ish to welcome one and all, but you all should feel free to join and/or leave the discussion whenever you are able/feel like it. I hope to have a good debate with everyone attending!

Third Book Club Meet Time Decided - "Avatar (Book One)" by S.D. Perry Designated Reading For the next meet-up, we will be reading Chapters 7 - 9 (Page 86-121). OBS: As always, it is NOT mandatory to stick to our reading schedule. You may read faster or slower than the rest of us, if you wish, but keep in mind that our discussions in the Book Club thread will be conducted with the above reading pace in mind. This means that, if you read FASTER, please refrain from spoiling the contents of the book for the rest of us, and if you read SLOWER, enter at your own risk, as our Book Club meetings will likely contain spoilers for your own reading. Given the low attendance last time, I encourage everyone to consider this weeks reading in correlation to the chapters we read for the last meeting, so we can perhaps include observations or thoughts that weren't sufficiently discussed at the last meet-up. Third Meeting Time Decided! The vote for the third Book Club Meet-Up has been concluded! Our next meeting (dear Americans, we salute you) has - by popular demand - been scheduled for Friday the 24th of November, 8PM UTC. We will endeavour for a 8PM sharp-ish start time, but you all should feel free to join and/or leave the discussion whenever you are able/feel like it. I hope to see as many of you (Including myself this time around =_= ) there as possible! ❤️

Hello everyone! Apologies for the delay, but work was murder this past week. This here is the 'catch up' topic for everyone to post their opinions on the chapters 4-6 that we read for last Friday. Since attendance was low and discussion was limited for last meet-up, any and all are welcome to post their opinions here instead. I hope for a higher turnout next time (including myself)

Second Book Club Meet Time Decided - "Avatar (Book One)" by S.D. Perry Designated Reading For the next meet-up, we will be reading Chapters 4 - 6 (Page 56-85). OBS: As always, it is NOT mandatory to stick to our reading schedule. You may read faster or slower than the rest of us, if you wish, but keep in mind that our discussions in the Book Club thread will be conducted with the above reading pace in mind. This means that, if you read FASTER, please refrain from spoiling the contents of the book for the rest of us, and if you read SLOWER, enter at your own risk, as our Book Club meetings will likely contain spoilers for your own reading. Second Meeting Time Decided! The vote for the second Book Club Meet-Up has been concluded! Our next meeting (apologies once more, dear American fellows) has - by popular demand - been scheduled for Friday the 3rd of November, 7PM UTC. Just like last time, we will be starting at 7PM sharp-ish, but you all should feel free to join and/or leave the discussion whenever you are able/feel like it. I hope to see as many of you there as possible! ❤️

Second Book Club Meet - "Avatar (Book One)" by S.D. Perry Designated Reading For the next meet-up, which will be scheduled to some time in the week 30th of October - 5th of November, we will be reading Chapters 4 - 6 (Page 56-85). OBS: As always, it is NOT mandatory to stick to our reading schedule. You may read faster or slower than the rest of us, if you wish, but keep in mind that our discussions in the Book Club thread will be conducted with the above reading pace in mind. This means that, if you read FASTER, please refrain from spoiling the contents of the book for the rest of us, and if you read SLOWER, enter at your own risk, as our Book Club meetings will likely contain spoilers for your own reading. Meeting Summary & Timezone Contingency Topic I've created a forum topic for the Book Club Meeting on the 18th of October, which contains a summary of the discussion we had on the chapters Prologue + 1-3. Feel free to add any observations you didn't get to share during the meeting to that thread, and keep a good conversation going! This is also where our American friends can go to share their own observations that they were prevented from participating with on Discord because of Timezone devilry. Thank you all for a good attendance, and I hope you're all as pumped as I for the next one!! Second Meeting Vote Underway I've created a separate thread in the spoiler-room channel on the Discord specifically for the Book Club Votes. That should make voting a lot easier on you all, as no scrolling should be necessary to find it! As that is the case, please refrain from making general chatter in that thread, so as to help your fellow Book Enthusiasts easily access the latest vote ❤️

Summary of the Discussion in Discord - Wednesday, 18th of October 2023. 1) Have any of you read any of S.D. Perry’s other works? No one has read any of S.D. Perry’s other works, though some titles seem familiar and interesting. Her track record of writing for established pop-culture IPs also works to her credit as a sign that she knows how to work within established canons, and thus can be trusted to do the source material justice. 2) How do you feel about the section we’ve read? The general consensus was that it functioned well as a ‘pilot episode’, with both ups and downs. The development of the general plot took backstage to establishing the setting and the characters, old as new, and while the author is perhaps a bit too ‘enamored with their thesaurus’ and tends to focus too much on internal observations, we are optimistic about where the story’ll take us. Was the inclusion of a timeline a good choice, do you think? The timeline was – to some of us – the best part of the chapter, and was a solid way of ensuring that all readers start on the same page in terms of established canon. Do you think starting us off with Jake Sisko was the right jumping off point, or do you think we should’ve started elsewhere? While our opinions on Jake Sisko as a character differed (HOW DARE THEE), we generally agreed that choosing to start the story with him in a separated location and introducing us to the Prylar prior to the event on DS9 was the right call. 3) What do you think of the author’s decision to jump so frequently between characters this early in the story? Has it hurt the pacing of the mystery, or do you think it was a good idea, to get us acquainted with all the different characters? Harking back to our opinion of the first three chapters as the ‘pilot episode’, we did agree that the plot didn’t progress very much at all, but this wasn’t necessarily a detriment to the book’s quality. Some parts of the early chapters (like Kira’s dream sequence) did feel like it could be omitted, or at least not take that much space, but in general, the opinion of the first couple of chapters were positive. 4) What do you think of the newly introduced characters, and what’s your opinion on the deployment of Ro Laren on DS9? Some of us (😉) were very happy to see Ro Laren again, and are excited to see how the tensions between Ro and the Starfleet Personnel, and Ro and Kira, pan out as the story progresses. The reception to the new characters was more lukewarm, with most of us not remembering their names, even if we had a vague recollection of who they were. Of the newly introduced characters, do you think any of them are ‘redshirts’ that will get killed off in the story? Of the newly introduced characters, who would you like to see take center stage for parts of the book? The most common belief expressed during the meeting was that it was difficult to readily accept new characters because of the ‘redshirt’-syndrome, so we’d have to withhold judgment before fully accepting any of the new folks as proper characters in their own rights. 5) With the title of the duology being ‘Avatar’, what do you think this signifies? Gila Sadar has definitely been conditioned to believe all prophesized children evil. The fact that both books carry the moniker ‘Avatar’ – which is what the prophecy the Prylar hands to Jake ostensibly calls Sisko’s unborn child – indicates that, whatever the Avatar actually is, it is going to cause trouble on a larger scale. The use of a prophecy for the first major plot hook was a more divisive move amongst Book Club Members, as a few of us felt it was an overutilized plot device in DS9 to begin with, and it is a trite plot device when we all expect it to go misunderstood for the majority of the story. Nevertheless, theories ran rampant during the meeting, and we’re all invested to see just how wrong Jake’s original translation will turn out to be. 6) Is the book easily readable? Is the pace with which we’ve decided to read suitable for everyone? ‘Easily readable’ is very much a subjective consideration, with a few of the members mentioning that the author’s overadherence to canon and the slow pace of the plot made the initial chapters a slog to get through, while others felt that the book was easy to get through. There was a unanimous agreement that the pace thus far feels suitable for the Book Club’s purposes, however, and as such, we felt comfortable setting a new quota for the next meeting. Thanks to everyone who attended and made the first Book Club Meet-Up a success!! 🥰 For those who weren't able to attend the meeting, or have since recalled an observation or opinion that they weren't able to express during the meeting, feel free to use this thread to keep the conversation going! I'll update the actual Book Club-thread with the new quota and the next Meet-Up date once they have been decided upon!

To be fair, that is a very ‘Trek’ kind of trap response, @Vitor S. Silveira 😂

Gila Sadar, Checking In! ”Oh, you want a badge? Okay, here you- What? We have to fight!?! Noooooo 😩“

Welcome to the fleet! I hope you all enjoyed training week, and are prepared to have an even more awesome time in your new postings! See you out there, among the stars! 💫

Is there something called ‘Love at Seventh Sim’? @Talia Ohnari has got me completely head over heels with her CMO after this latest Sim, which just is so filled with personality, its just MARVELOUS! 😍

Of course we absolutely believe you, @Alieth, but - just a suggestion - maybe signage would be a good upgrade to the Ronin? 😅

Also from the same sim, ‘cause it’s criminal that this exchange and bit of internal monologue wasn’t in here already! 😤

@Karrod Niac That last line! Goosebumps! May your shakedown cruise bring plenty of hijinks, accursed Ronnies! ❤️

And thus begins the eternal rivalry between the Artemisians and the catnapping Ronnies 🥲 (Ya’ll better enjoy it, look at the cool stuff she writes!!! 💯)