Coming July 2013: STAR TREK ENTERPRISE — RISE OF THE FEDERATION

[CaptainDonovin]

Great news, very exciting. Loved Star Trek: Enterprise even though I kept reading how Trek fans complained with no end about every little thing. This is an era I've been interested in reading about, this & the years after First Contact (2063 on).

[bbailey861]

Well done, and a hearty congratulations, Christopher. Really looking forward to this book.

[Basill]

Sounds like quite a sandbox. Too cool, and should be even better with you at the helm.

[Enterpriserules]

Basill wrote:

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Sounds like quite a sandbox. Too cool, and should be even better with you at the helm.

I completely agree.

[Jarvisimo]

Hey Chris, I think this will be an excellent opportunity, given your interests in socio-economic theory as well as history & historiography. Certainly it will be a much-needed widening of the field of this franchise property to encompass more properly the early Federation.

I must ask are you feeling it is a good chance to re-introduce the (oft-maligned) characters of Enterprise? Or are you glad to have many more potential characters in your sandbox?

Also with 'exploration' being one of your points, will the novel include still lots of science, or after having done several 'harder sf' novels, will this be more the subtle idea of social and political difference like in your Typhon Pact novella?

[Christopher]

CaptainDonovin wrote:

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This is an era I've been interested in reading about, this & the years after First Contact (2063 on).

As it happens, my original pitch was Star Trek: Beginnings, which would've been a multibook series covering the span between 2063 and the start of ENT. But it was wisely decided that that would be far too narrow in its appeal, since it would be too lacking in familiar characters and elements. I was offered this project as an alternative, and after my initial hesitation, I saw how much potential there was in it.

Jarvisimo wrote:

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I must ask are you feeling it is a good chance to re-introduce the (oft-maligned) characters of Enterprise? Or are you glad to have many more potential characters in your sandbox?

I'm certainly trying to flesh out the potential of the ENT characters to the best of my ability, but there weren't really that many of them, so the story I'm telling requires adding some new ones, who will hopefully be appealing to readers.

Also with 'exploration' being one of your points, will the novel include still lots of science, or after having done several 'harder sf' novels, will this be more the subtle idea of social and political difference like in your Typhon Pact novella?

There should be a balance of both.

[hbquikcomjamesl]

I'm delighted. Although now I feel the need to re-read the Romulan War arc: I honestly don't remember how it ended. Oh, well, I wanted to delay starting on the "Cold Equations" trilogy until the second volume comes out anyway . . .

Of course, regarding uniform evolution, we also need to recognize that (at least in the "Prime" Universe) the "Cage" and "Where No Man Has Gone Before" uniforms fit somewhere between the "Kelvin" uniforms and the TOS uniforms.

[Jarvisimo]

Thanks for answering Chris!

I must say that about uniforms, does the lit need to be sooo pedantic about their on-screen representation, given the many different decades of production design that Trek occured over (and on the television the tight budget that railed in costuming, miniatures and other things that could have been imagined more 'futurist')?

[Christopher]

hbquikcomjamesl wrote:

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I'm delighted. Although now I feel the need to re-read the Romulan War arc: I honestly don't remember how it ended.

Spoiler: Our side won.

Oh, well, I wanted to delay starting on the "Cold Equations" trilogy until the second volume comes out anyway . . .

Might be better to put off re-reading TRW until, ohh, June or so...

Of course, regarding uniform evolution, we also need to recognize that (at least in the "Prime" Universe) the "Cage" and "Where No Man Has Gone Before" uniforms fit somewhere between the "Kelvin" uniforms and the TOS uniforms.

Yup. And they and the Kelvin uniforms have a similarly muted color scheme. Plus the "Cage" uniforms included a captain's hat, which can be seen as a descendant of the baseball caps that were an optional part of the ENT-era uniforms.


Jarvisimo: I'm not sure what you mean about being "pedantic." It just seemed logical to me that the Federation Starfleet would have different uniforms than Earth Starfleet did, and I wanted to figure out what they looked like so I could acknowledge them in the book.

[King Daniel]

Christopher wrote:

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I approached the uniform design as an intermediate step between the ENT and Kelvin uniforms, with elements foreshadowing later uniform designs as well.

Glad to hear it! After seeing previews of Federation: The First 150 Years make no mention of anything from the Kelvin era, I was starting to wonder if the novelverse was going to ignore it too.

[Sci]

This sounds entirely too awesome for words. As someone who's fascinated by the political side of Trek, and who is fascinated by the early post-Independence era of United States history, I'm really excited to read this one. Congrats Christopher!

[Christopher]

KingDaniel wrote:

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Glad to hear it! After seeing previews of Federation: The First 150 Years make no mention of anything from the Kelvin era, I was starting to wonder if the novelverse was going to ignore it too.

Well, of course I can't actually have the characters say "Hey, this looks like a step toward the uniforms we'll be wearing 70 years from now!" So there won't be any explicit mentions per se.

[Csalem]

Actually pleased to here Christopher is doing this. I gave up on ENT with Kobayashi Maru but will definitely get this. Am already a big fan of Starfleet: Year One so hope it is as good as that, even though it is in a different continuity.

[Deranged Nasat]

Wonderful news. I couldn't think of a better Trek author to tackle such a ill-defined but significant period in the 'verse's history. And while I enjoyed the Enterprise relaunch novels more than most on the board, it'll be great to have a fresh perspective on the series' characters and conventions. Plus, having the Federation's early years finally fleshed out is something I've been hoping for for a while. So this is all-round exciting.

[Paris]

This is fantastic news for Enterprise, for Christopher, and for us. No offence intended to Michael Martin, but a lot of fans, and not only the ones on these boards, were not big fans of his Enterprise work. It'll be nice to see the book in the hands of a fresh voice. I echo the sentiment of wishing for another voyager relaunch situation, wherein the books are almost universally loved under the guidance of one author. Go get 'em Christopher