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

[USS Einstein]

P.P.S. Also, it's worth saying, I know that these people I used as examples, had changing views over time - Tolkien in the days of the Hobbit, with Tolkien in the days of the Silmarillion - there is a contrast. I don't doubt Roddenbury retroactively 'played up' his visionary role But I admire all these people for the process they were on, and like different parts of their careers for different reasons.

[BillJ]

Roddenberry.

[Janos]

Congrats Chris!

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.

Very cool. I'm looking forward to seeing the cover art.

Christopher wrote:

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Anyway, whatever the show was called, the focus was on the characters, not the ship. This is the story of the early Federation through the eyes of Archer, T'Pol, and the rest, and that means they're involved with Federation ships and missions.

Interesting. It seems the series will not be a ship on a mission type tale. Seems bigger. I wonder what this early Federation's flagship is if not Enterprise? Will that be revealed in the first book with its crew?

Christopher wrote:

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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.

That is very cool. Particularly those longe-lived ones like Dax.

Christopher wrote:

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My goal is to reveal the origins of the Prime-universe Federation as we know it from the TOS era and beyond. Naturally my brief as a tie-in author is to stay consistent with the canon, but there's a wealth of stuff we don't know about that first century of the UFP, so there's plenty of room for surprises and discoveries.

You have a large canvass. Good luck!

[Christopher]

Janos wrote:

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Interesting. It seems the series will not be a ship on a mission type tale. Seems bigger.

There will be starship missions, but there's other stuff going on too. There's a lot of ground to cover here.

I wonder what this early Federation's flagship is if not Enterprise? Will that be revealed in the first book with its crew?

I prefer to avoid the use of "flagship" in the vernacular sense of a vessel that's treated for some reason as the most important or prestigious vessel in the entire Federation fleet. I don't think that's a very realistic usage. Strictly speaking, a flagship is the command vessel of a task force, or it's the ship on which an admiral carries his or her flag, i.e. uses as a command base or has at his or her personal disposal. Both those types of flagship are seen in the novel, but the kind of "flagship" you're talking about is not.

[Skywalker]

I'm very happy to hear that, Christopher. I've never been a fan of the "flagship" thing.

[Admiral_Young]

Everything I keep reading about this project continues to excite me. This is probably my most anticipated Trek Lit book this year

[Reanok]

Admiral_Young wrote:

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Everything I keep reading about this project continues to excite me. This is probably my most anticipated Trek Lit book this year

Ditto the more I hear about this novel the more intriguing this books storyline about the Federation being founded.I hope will be a continuing series of books.

[Relayer1]

Me too. This is probably the most exciting release this year for me...

[Janos]

Since the series will be post 2161, will Archer be a Captain, Commodore or Admiral? Looks like his career path shows at Memory Beta he's an Admiral by 2164.

I haven't finished the Romulan War trade paperback yet, but what were the ranks of the Enterprise crew at the end? I imagine there may be promotions by the time we get to the first issue of this new series?

Christopher wrote:

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There will be starship missions, but there's other stuff going on too. There's a lot of ground to cover here.

So it will be like focus on the World/Federation at around 2163 through the eyes of (former) Enterprise crew (wherever they are) and a few new characters too (a la the other Trek Lit post TV series finale "relaunches")? With maybe a few long-lived characters like "a" Dax or others from TOS/TNG era; earlier versions?

Christopher wrote:

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I prefer to avoid the use of "flagship" in the vernacular sense of a vessel that's treated for some reason as the most important or prestigious vessel in the entire Federation fleet. I don't think that's a very realistic usage. Strictly speaking, a flagship is the command vessel of a task force, or it's the ship on which an admiral carries his or her flag, i.e. uses as a command base or has at his or her personal disposal. Both those types of flagship are seen in the novel, but the kind of "flagship" you're talking about is not.

Cool. I'm just curious what the "core" Federation Ship will be for Archer or the series if not an Enterprise. That said, PAD did have New Frontier focus on the crews of the Excalibur and Trident so I guess two or more core ships isn't out of the question?

I am intrigued, Christopher.

[Christopher]

Janos wrote:

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Since the series will be post 2161, will Archer be a Captain, Commodore or Admiral? Looks like his career path shows at Memory Beta he's an Admiral by 2164.

I haven't finished the Romulan War trade paperback yet, but what were the ranks of the Enterprise crew at the end? I imagine there may be promotions by the time we get to the first issue of this new series?

There should be some information about crew promotions in the official cover blurb. I'd prefer not to spoil anything before it's released.

So it will be like focus on the World/Federation at around 2163 through the eyes of (former) Enterprise crew (wherever they are) and a few new characters too (a la the other Trek Lit post TV series finale "relaunches")? With maybe a few long-lived characters like "a" Dax or others from TOS/TNG era; earlier versions?

Umm, that's pretty much a paraphrase of what I said in the first post of the thread, I think.

Cool. I'm just curious what the "core" Federation Ship will be for Archer or the series if not an Enterprise. That said, PAD did have New Frontier focus on the crews of the Excalibur and Trident so I guess two or more core ships isn't out of the question?

Indeed not. Consider also that Vanguard had at least three featured ships at any given time.

[Deranged Nasat]

If I may, Christopher, I have a question: you've mentioned that Rigel is featuring in the novel - just how prominent is the Rigel system (if telling us won't be revealing too much, of course)?

I ask because a friend on another forum, who seems to count Enterprise as his favourite Star Trek series (I believe it was also the first one he saw) really likes the Rigellians (not yet sure why, but why not, I suppose?) and is interested in learning more about them. He hasn't yet read any of the novels, but he's interested in starting; an Enterprise-era novel featuring Rigellians (or Denobulans, for that matter, his other favourites) would be ideal.

He's specifically wondered "why wasn't Rigel among the UFP founders when it was represented at the Coalition conference?", so if this novel is exploring the early UFP-Rigel relationship I can't think of a better entry point to Trek lit.

[Christopher]

Deranged Nasat wrote:

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If I may, Christopher, I have a question: you've mentioned that Rigel is featuring in the novel - just how prominent is the Rigel system (if telling us won't be revealing too much, of course)?

Actually all I said was that I'd done some thinking about the Rigel system as background for the Rise of the Federation setting. I've thought about a lot of aspects of that setting that won't necessarily be featured in A Choice of Futures, because I've approached it as a potential series.

That said, the Rigel system is visited in the course of ACoF, but it isn't explored in depth... yet.

He's specifically wondered "why wasn't Rigel among the UFP founders when it was represented at the Coalition conference?", so if this novel is exploring the early UFP-Rigel relationship I can't think of a better entry point to Trek lit.

The Good That Men Do established that the Rigelians were scared off from joining the Coalition by the acts of Terra Prime. Presumably that was why they didn't join the UFP at first either.

[Therin of Andor]

Deranged Nasat wrote:

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He's specifically wondered "why wasn't Rigel among the UFP founders when it was represented at the Coalition conference?", so if this novel is exploring the early UFP-Rigel relationship I can't think of a better entry point to Trek lit.

IIRC, the early 1980s publication, "Star Trek Maps" (with "Introduction to Navigation"), indicated that the "Rigel Colonies" were a very busy place, but the presence of the antagonistic Orions and Kalar probably meant that the Colonies weren't ready to be part of the new UFP taking shape. From memory, "the Goldsteins' "Spaceflight Chronology" gelled with this, probably by fluke.

"Star Trek Star Charts" moved both the Orions and Kalar out of the Rigel system featured in "Enterprise" but, again, each time someone visits Rigel, the multi-race nature of its populations, and importance of the region for trade, seem to be features.

[Christopher]

^Actually the Spaceflight Chronology said just the opposite, that Rigel was a founding member: http://memory-beta.wikia.com/wiki/Ri...Modern_History

Starfleet: Year One also made Rigellians a founding member, although it was a different version of the Rigellian species.

[Mage]

Christopher, any idea on when we can expect a blurb and cover art?