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L.I. Underhill is a media critic and historian specializing in pop culture, with a focus on science fiction (especially Star Trek) and video games. Their projects include a critical history of Star Trek told through the narrative of a war in time, a “heretical” history of The Legend of Zelda series and a literary postmodern reading of Jim Davis' Garfield.

18 Comments

  1. Jack Graham
    September 23, 2016 @ 1:52 pm

    Congratulations and well done.

    Reply

  2. Froborr
    September 23, 2016 @ 1:54 pm

    YES.

    Reply

  3. Sean Dillon
    September 23, 2016 @ 1:58 pm

    Awesome, I look forward to reading it.

    Reply

  4. Andrew Ward
    September 23, 2016 @ 3:37 pm

    Hi Josh, you might want to look at the content of kindle ebook, as what ever processes the ebook has been through has gliched the text, I’m seeing shorter words being cut off. I’ve only gotten as far as the introduction and “first” is being shown as “rst” and a couple of “and”s shown as “nd”.

    It wouldn’t be the worst example of text butchery that I’ve read from an ebook from Amazon. I’m using the Kindle app on an iPhone 6 to read the book.

    Despite the hick-ups the book does seem promising.

    All the best, Andrew

    Reply

    • Josh Marsfelder
      September 23, 2016 @ 7:57 pm

      Ugh, thank you. I was afraid that was going to happen. Formatting the ebook was a nightmare and I was almost positive the text was going to get screwed up in some form or another. Unfortunately, Amazon requires a format that I can’t natively edit, so it’s a bit of a chore. I’ll see what I can do though.

      The paperback version should be pristine, as it’s based on the document I built, copyeditied and formatted myself.

      Reply

      • James Pearson
        September 23, 2016 @ 9:01 pm

        Congratulations. I’m very excited about your blog getting the book treatment.

        I know nothing about formatting ebooks so have no idea what information might be useful to you in terms of identifying what went wrong, but a noticeable problem is that in the early sections of the book the letter combination “fi” seems to go missing. For example “first” become “rst” and “fiction” becoming “ction”.

        Reply

        • Josh Marsfelder
          September 23, 2016 @ 10:01 pm

          Yeah, that has to do with how the PDF, which is what the manuscript was originally built and formatted in, was translated to the Microsoft Word/Open Document format Kindle needs. It’s annoying.

          I just re-exported the whole thing into HTML, which Kindle seems to like better anyway, and I think I’ve fixed the formatting hack job pulled on the ebook release. I’ve just uploaded a new interior file and, at least in the Kindle preview I’m reading, it looks a lot better. I’m afraid it may never be perfect, but it’s better than it was at least.

          Reply

  5. John G. Wood
    September 23, 2016 @ 8:09 pm

    Congrats! Right now I need to focus on clearing debt before buying anything purely for entertainment (even for $6.99), but this is definitely going on my want list. I found the original Raumpatrouille essay fascinating, so am looking forward to the expanded coverage. Are they more like your Myriad Universes posts, where you summarise the plot for the benefit of those who haven’t experienced the episode in question, or are they more like your TV posts where you just dive in?

    Reply

    • Josh Marsfelder
      September 23, 2016 @ 8:26 pm

      A little bit of both. My general rule of thumb is that I do in-depth plot summaries for things I’m reasonably confidant the majority of the audience hasn’t read or seen, and Raumpatrouille definitely fits that bill. But the summary to analysis ratio on those essays does trend more towards the analysis side of the spectrum, as I typically found myself with a lot to say about a given episode.

      Reply

  6. Jacob
    September 23, 2016 @ 9:05 pm

    Congrats, Josh! You definitely have a customer here. I’ve been following Vaka Rangi religiously since the beginning, and I can’t wait to see the updates/expansions and to have a slice of the blog in book form.

    I have to admit to missing the old Vanka Rangi blog space, but I’m still enjoying your stuff here. I’m looking forward to seeing what you do next.

    Reply

  7. KvetchingTurtle
    September 23, 2016 @ 10:44 pm

    How great!
    Will this include the original crew films as well, or will that be in the inevitable volume 2?

    Reply

    • Josh Marsfelder
      September 23, 2016 @ 10:49 pm

      Book 1 only goes up to 1974. Vaka Rangi travels in chronological order, so the movies will only show up in the narrative during the years when they were first produced.

      If my current calculations pan out, book 2 will have movies I-V. VI will be in book 3, with Generations in book 5 if you count that one.

      Reply

      • Josh Marsfelder
        September 23, 2016 @ 10:52 pm

        Er, wait, no. Generations would be in book 4 in that case.

        Reply

  8. Anton B
    September 24, 2016 @ 7:42 am

    Congratulations Josh. I’ve been a huge fan of your writing since the first Vaka Rangi post, despite having little interest in much of Star Trek. Good luck with the book. I shall be reading it on Kindle despite the glitches.

    Reply

  9. David Lamb
    September 26, 2016 @ 1:15 pm

    New to your writing since you came over to Eruditorum Josh, but have enjoyed your posts so far and will most certainly be picking this up.

    This and Jerusalem should keep me going on the plane ride to Washington next week!

    Reply

  10. 5tephe
    October 20, 2016 @ 12:21 am

    Congratulations Josh!

    I’ve been busy, and on holidays, so missed this when it happened. So glad you have achieved this ambition. As a long time reader, I look forward to seeing a paperback version in my mailbox, sometime. Perhaps I’ll give it to myself as a Christmas present.

    Reply

    • Josh Marsfelder
      October 23, 2016 @ 10:33 pm

      Thanks so much! Hope you enjoy the book!

      Reply

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