Gila Sadar

@Talia Ohnari I love the imagery of the chipper medicine fairy 😂

First Book Club Meet - "Avatar (Book One)" by S.D. Perry (Now with Meeting Date!!) Designated Reading Our first reading endeavour for "Avatar (Book One)" has been decided to encompass Prologue (Page 3-16), Chapter 1 (Page 17-28), Chapter 2 (Page 29-40) & Chapter 3 (Page 41-55). OBS: Note that 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. First Meeting Timezones have come to ruin our lives once more, my fellow Book Enthusiasts! 😤 The most popular option for our first meeting (since the majority of our readers apparently work on a European Time Schedule) is Wednesday the 18th of October, 7PM UTC. Anyone who can are welcome to join! Our beloved American readers are - of course - welcome to add their two cents once they're able, and anyone still around at such a time are more than welcome to keep the discussion going.

First Book Club Meet - "Avatar (Book One)" by S.D. Perry Designated Reading Our first reading endeavour for "Avatar (Book One)" has been decided to encompass Prologue (Page 3-16), Chapter 1 (Page 17-28), Chapter 2 (Page 29-40) & Chapter 3 (Page 41-55). We have decided on this because an average projected reading speed of 48 - 64 pages seems reasonable for everyone to manage in a two-week period, but if you find during this week that this isn't working for you, please reach out to us in the Discord thread, so we can account for this next time. OBS: Note that 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. First Meeting We haven't yet decided on what day we shall meet, but a vote is currently ongoing in the thread on Discord to decide on the day and time where most can attend. Please head on over there to give your two cents, so we can decide on a meeting time where (ideally) all of us can attend. OBS: It is NOT mandatory to show up at the beginning of the Meeting - you can drop in whenever you want - but I will endeavour to have a semblance of order or topics we can discuss for whenever we meet, so it becomes a fun and engaging time for everyone

Welcome aboard, ya'll! 😄 You're going to have a grand old time! Hope you both enjoy your postings, and I'll see you out there somwhere!

Vote Concluded The Book The book unanimously voted on for the Book Club for their first reading project is "Avatar (Book One)", written by S.D. Perry in 2001. Avatar is a duology, and are considered the first two novels in the DS9 book relaunch. The Avatar-storyline picks up three months after the Series' Finale of Deep Space 9, and multiple important characters used in later novels are introduced in these books. The book blurb as listed on Amazon.com reads as such: "In the uneasy ceasefire following the Dominion War, a surprise attack cripples Deep Space 9, killing hundreds and threatening the peace of the galaxy, as Colonel Kira Nerys and her fellow survivors struggle to prevent all-out war and protect Captain Sisko's unborn child, and Captain Picard and his crew make a startling discovery that could forever alter the destiny of all concerned." All Book Club Members who wish to join in this reading should procure this book as soon as possible in the format you wish to use. For those of us who opt for a physical copy, please share your Estimated Time of Delivery with the rest of the group, so we can start having a sense of when the reading can begin, and when we can log in our first Book Club Meeting. First Reading Now that we're looking at actually getting to read, I think it prudent to begin discussing how many chapters we think it plausible any one of us can read in the span of 2-3 weeks (which is how often I personally suggest Meet-Ups should be conducted.) Please take into account your general reading speed on daily basis and give a reasonable and realistic forecast of this, as the last thing we want is for people to feel that reading becomes a chore, and something that just adds unnecessary stress in an already busy IRL schedule. Avatar (Book One) spans (as best I can tell from the digital copy I've got) 20 chapters over 320 pages, which means an 'average' of pages per chapter at 16 pages. Taking the above into account, I suggest a reading speed of 3 or 4 chapters per meeting. Feel free to weigh in with your opinions on this either here or on the thread in Discord! I hope everyone's excited, and can't wait to start reading.

Note to All The vote for the first book to be read in the Book Club is still going for another 7 or 8 hours, so if you still have interest in joining and want an influence on the first book we read, get on into the 'Book Club'-thread of the spoiler-room chat on Discord, and make a 'heart'-reaction on the book you like Once the vote is concluded, I will make an update to this thread listing the chosen book!

The way I think is the best way to go about it, is that all the 'formal decision' (if one can call them that XD) are posted in here. So what book are we reading, what chapters are we reading for next time, when's the next Book Club 'Meeting'. That way, we avoid the important things getting lost to conversations (which is what Discord is for xD) I'm thinking the Actual Book Club Meets should be handled on Discord though, since there's a far more 'conversational feel' to Discord's live chatting, as opposed to the Forum. Those are my ideas, anyways xD (On that note! Anyone late to this topic, we're currently having a vote-off in the 'Book Club'-thread of the Spoiler-Room channel on Discord. Come join us! )

Oh no... Oh no, @Karrod Niac. 😨 My sincerest condolences to all Ronins in need of counseling when Dekas is otherwise occupied...

In the spirit of making the choice of a book easier for all of us, who might want to read along together, I suggest putting it down to a vote 🤣 Perhaps putting a priority list of 3 books we'd like to read, and then a book that receives more votes of a higher priority is selected? In terms of organization, how are we thinking the Book Club should function? Since most of us voted that we want to read the same book, logic would dictate (look at me, being all Vulcan xD), that our reading should be done within a timeframe so we can gather and discuss the book without having to worry about accidentally getting spoiled/spoiling our fellow readers. Are we thinking of reading the entirety of a book between sitdowns, or checking in with others more frequently, and perhaps taking a couple of chapters at a time? (I am an organizational nutcase. Forgive me xD)

Being in command of one's own ship seems like a daunting task, and an in reality, is probably far more taxing than us new Ensigns can even imagine. This aspect of Starfleet Life, I feel, our various Commanding Officers manage to transmit to us with extreme clarity, and often in quite hilarious ways. Nevertheless, this Sim was a lovely read, because it not only hammers home the fact that the lunatics enjoy the work, but that while Command can be a heavy burden to bear, it is not one our Captains carry alone. And just as Captain @Randal Shayne, I ended the Sim with a smile on my face. I'm sure I speak for the entire fleet, when I say we hope for a good and fun-filled transitional period for all Ships who've lost crewmembers to the Rampage of the Ronin, and that we all share in the excitement described in this Sim!

Wow, that's a good sized group! Congratulations to you all, and welcome to the Fleet!! I'm sure you're all going to have all sorts of fun here! I hope to see you out among the stars eventually ✨

@Karrod Niac using his mastery of both comedy and words to tempt all the naive Ensigns onto his shiny new ship 😂😂

I'd love a book club! I haven't even touched any Star Trek books, so having friends to read with would be a great motivator! 😄

Congratulations, and welcome to the Fleet You're gonna have a blast!!

Oh please, Princess is 100 percent better than that one too. Don't be crude!

Just saying, 'Princess' is still a better moniker for her than 'Visitor', and I personally love to hate her ❤️ Beautiful characterization, @Jovenan!!

grumblegrumblegrumble 😑 Good job @Robin Hopper, Always fun to read your sims 💔

Welcome among the stars to you both! As a fellow Ensign, I can assure you that everyone's real nice and extremely welcoming, and I hope you have a wonderful time here!

@Hiro Jones's PNPC Kliss'lai is a precious cinnamon roll, and she's doing great interpreting our Intel Chief's body language 🤣

Is there a word for hating and loving something at the same time, @Hiro Jones?

A good Sim, in my opinion, is one that accomplishes multiple things: it should characterize your character, give your shipmates a course of action and work to increase the amount of fun being had overall. @Vitor S. Silveira succeeds at these in every Sim he writes, but there is something to be said for the absolute magic that is created when he finishes up an excellent scene, goes into a good moment of trauma to show the Man behind the Face of the charismatic and perpetually cheerful Lieutenant, and at the same time uses the opportunity to facilitate a scene with a PNPC that the owner just earlier that day mentioned they missed simming. Excellent work! We’re lucky to have him aboard!

Honorary quote from the Artemis’ discord channel that perfectly examplifies why Artemis Poker Nights are a BAD IDEA, all around: I honestly don’t know which one between @Addison MacKenzie and @Talos Dakora is the worst kind of card game 😂

@LuxaLorana takes the win today 🤣

Look, I'm not saying that the Artemis has the ABSOLUTE BEST PNPC in the entire damn fleet... But we SO do. @Jovenan's PNPC, a Trill Engineer with a habit of knocking in officer heads with a spanner and mentally badmouthing the bridge crew at every chance she gets, has taken us by storm, and many of us look forward to Jozial Renirs' appearances with absolute glee. Obviously, you all shouldn't be any different. (Also, if you want to maniacally cackle as you see 'The Hyperspanner Hitman' go ham on Osuna's skull during their first meeting, here you are.)

This is what exploration's all about. The mental image @Hiro Jones conjured for me with this Sim was just 10/10.