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

[Relayer1]

Christopher wrote:

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Like I said, as long as it's under the Enterprise: Rise of the Federation banner, it stands to reason that it would stick to the early years. I don't want to rush through things.

And there have already been a lot of books chronicling the decades leading up to TOS, a fair amount of coverage of, say, the 2220s onward, even if it's not all in a single continuity. I'm more interested in the period that hasn't been covered before.

Maybe, but you are letting the genie out of the bottle somewhat. I think the end result of constructing a coherent 'relaunch' chronology leading up to TOS suggests itself...

[BillJ]

All we can hope is that the Enterprise re-relaunch turns out as well as the Voyager re-relaunch.

[Christopher]

Relayer1 wrote:

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Maybe, but you are letting the genie out of the bottle somewhat. I think the end result of constructing a coherent 'relaunch' chronology leading up to TOS suggests itself...

If so, that's probably a long way away, and is not a decision that has to be made right now. I mean, seriously, we're talking about a century-long gap here. That's a lot of history to cover.

Besides, something doesn't have to come up right to the edge of a given work in order to lead into it. Vanguard did a lot to set up events from the Trek movies set in 2285 and after, but it concluded in 2270.

[Art Vandelay]

How did I miss this for the last four days? Giddy and excited is what I am right now. This is the Enterprise relaunch I've always wanted without knowing it. And Christopher's the author, who has never written a Trek novel I didn't like.

Now we only need someone to take over Titan (where's KRAD when you need him?), and the novel line will be perfect.

[Relayer1]

Christopher wrote:

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If so, that's probably a long way away, and is not a decision that has to be made right now. I mean, seriously, we're talking about a century-long gap here. That's a lot of history to cover.

Besides, something doesn't have to come up right to the edge of a given work in order to lead into it. Vanguard did a lot to set up events from the Trek movies set in 2285 and after, but it concluded in 2270.

True, but I'd like to fill that gap with a fair number of novels...I could see this being a rather excellent replacement for Vanguard...

[RPJOB]

Excellent news Christopher. Hopefully we'll see some of what the other races brought to the Federation. It's usually been portrayed as a "homo-sapiens only club" but the Andorians and Tellarites and others must have contributed something. Earth gets the headquarters for Starfleet and the Presidential Palace. What's in it for the other guys?

Does this mean that Martin is no longer writing the Ent novels, seeing as Archer is now an Admiral and all.

Not much continuity to worry about in this era. No need to be extra careful about stepping on toes or ret-conning what's come before. I'm looking forward to see where you take this.

[JD]

Art Vandelay wrote:

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Now we only need someone to take over Titan (where's KRAD when you need him?), and the novel line will be perfect.

The fact that KRAD has never written a Titan story is one of my biggest disappointments in TrekLit.

[Relayer1]

Christopher wrote:

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Like I said, as long as it's under the Enterprise: Rise of the Federation banner, it stands to reason that it would stick to the early years. I don't want to rush through things.

And there have already been a lot of books chronicling the decades leading up to TOS, a fair amount of coverage of, say, the 2220s onward, even if it's not all in a single continuity. I'm more interested in the period that hasn't been covered before.

Any thoughts at this point which pre-existing novels could/will be folded into the 'Relaunch' continuity and which couldn't ?

I realise that your plans for the moment don't extend anywhere near the TOS, but would the current restrictions from JJ and Co. prevent the appearance of a young Robau and even the Kelvin when appropriate ?

[Christopher]

Like I said, I'm focusing on the early days of the Federation and the era when Archer and his crew were active. Basically it's like I'm talking about writing a post-Civil War story and you're asking me if FDR and Al Capone will be in it. A lot of you folks don't seem to be on the same calendar page as I am. I have no plans to do anything set in the 23rd century at this point. There's so much of the 22nd that's yet to be filled in.

To the extent that there will be familiar names and elements from other Trek series, they'll be ones that were referenced as part of the past -- either known to be present in the late 22nd century or chronologically vague enough that they could've been part of that milieu. Kinda like how the Romulan War novels featured such characters as Tobin Dax, Sarek's father Skon, and various members of the Stiles family.

[Miss Lemon]

Congratulations, Christopher. I look forward to reading your book. Your blog entry makes me feel the Enterprise crew is in good hands.

[Relayer1]

Christopher wrote:

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Like I said, I'm focusing on the early days of the Federation and the era when Archer and his crew were active. Basically it's like I'm talking about writing a post-Civil War story and you're asking me if FDR and Al Capone will be in it. A lot of you folks don't seem to be on the same calendar page as I am. I have no plans to do anything set in the 23rd century at this point. There's so much of the 22nd that's yet to be filled in.

To the extent that there will be familiar names and elements from other Trek series, they'll be ones that were referenced as part of the past -- either known to be present in the late 22nd century or chronologically vague enough that they could've been part of that milieu. Kinda like how the Romulan War novels featured such characters as Tobin Dax, Sarek's father Skon, and various members of the Stiles family.

Good enough for me ! I'll stop badgering you !

Congrat's again though Christopher - I'm really looking forward to this !

[Mage]

Silly question maybe, but can you already tell if this novel will be more politically oriented (meaning working on HOW the Federation was formed in those early years) or more of an exploration oriented novel, where we will see some of the earlier starships going out there, going boldy and such?

[Christopher]

Mage wrote:

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Silly question maybe, but can you already tell if this novel will be more politically oriented (meaning working on HOW the Federation was formed in those early years) or more of an exploration oriented novel, where we will see some of the earlier starships going out there, going boldy and such?

Those elements and others will be included. I don't want to do Trek without exploration, but there's a lot of interesting stuff to figure out about how the early UFP government and institutions were organized. And the two overlap when it comes to things like diplomacy and interspecies relations.

[Mage]

Christopher wrote:

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Those elements and others will be included. I don't want to do Trek without exploration, but there's a lot of interesting stuff to figure out about how the early UFP government and institutions were organized. And the two overlap when it comes to things like diplomacy and interspecies relations.

See, that's exactly what I'd want to see in a Rise Of The Federation novel. Sounds great!

[xortex]

So it's your job to turn RB's boring drab vision over to JJ's nightmare. Serving many masters and falling into line at the snap of JJ adam's whip?

Take this opportunity to reimagine/reboot/remake all of it's origins. Nix Shran as a crew member. He's a slimy backstabber (sounds like JJ.) and would be a dealbreaker for me. Smarten up the Klingons. Make the Vulcans less annoying and overshadowing. Change thqat god aweful ship, bridge, uniforms and make the aliens less familiar and Human and not treated with contempt. Give it some Human centric scope, distinction, protocol, and respect and character. The universe is a character as well. Brighten it up and make it more GR optomistic, uplifting and hopeful. Bakula was depressing, moross, rigid, abgry and bitter. I would recast him in my mind. T'pol too, who was an iceberg. Too bad they can't let you rename her T'Pau as it should have been. Give them some chemistry and humor and likability. The whole show was a dark and depressing dystopia. It seriously screwed up everything starting with Hoshi screaming at dead aliens and the crew laughing at there being life on Axanar,etc.. These are very inappropriate reactions for future people. Even real astronauts today wouldn't react that way. Braga got so far out that he became detached from reality and was directionless. Reconstruct and recreate the universe and bring a story to it about a greater galaxy wide threat to the entire universe's survival that unifies all the races in a joint effort to defeat a giant space chicken or something. Whoops. I let a story idea slip out. Sorry.
ENT was an incoherent mess that you're inheriting. I wouldn't try ti fix or repair it. Ever try nailing jello to a wall? Don't make it a news report either of seemingly unrelated events strung together in a strained way. Filtering out it's cartooniness will be impossible. Just erase it and start new afresh. and they had the nerve to call TOS corny and goofy.
And no he said/she said mind twist political debockles either.