As far as we know there are no plans at the moment to publish Slings and Arrows in the paperback format (or the remaining two SCE/CoE trade paperbacks for that matter). I guess there's always a chance for another unexpected "hole" in the schedule which could be filled by those, though. That's how we got the last two SCE/CoE TPBs.
This year would have been ideal; it's the 25th-anniversary of Star Trek: The Next Generation, after all. However, Pocket didn't publish any anniversary projects this year that I can think of. Maybe 2016, for the 20th anniversary of First Contact? No, I'm not expecting that, either.
Actually I'm a bit surprised that they haven't at least put some kind of 25th anniversary banner on the TNG releases this year (IfM and David Mack's trilogy).
Could be they're making more money off it as a ebook. Still pisses me off tho. I want a physical book, darn it!
As much as I am a supporter of e-books, I am rather surprised there hasn't been word of these or the last few CoE novellas coming out in paperback. It seems kinda crappy to me to consistently release the e-book first stuff in ppb for years, and then just suddenly stop with no warning.
I'm not surprised at all. They're orphaned projects. The people who shepherded them through originally at Pocket aren't there any longer. There's no one to champion them or fight for them.
Well, Marco, Keith and Margaret used to come here and play. Ed doesn't (although perhaps he lurks?). Have you tried writing to Pocket/Gallery and making a request that those eBooks get a trade release?
Well, I do mostly e-books now, so I'm planning on just getting them in that form eventually. I just think it sucks for those who don't do e-books, and got the TPBs for years only for them to stop with no warning.
I had Books One through Three and somehow lost my copy of Book 2 and it doesn't even appear on SimonSchuster's site anymore either. I will just get them over again once I get a Kindle myself.
As I said, have you tried writing to Pocket/Gallery and making a request that those eBooks get a trade release? Ed S. may not hear you from here. What kind of warning were you looking for? We get press releases when ST novels are announced and when they are promoted and reviewed, but very rarely when deals go wrong. That's what Steve Roby's "Lost Star Trek novels" webpage is for. When the very first SCE eBook came out, I recall a message on the download site re it being an exclusive story which was not (ever?) being made available in hardcopy, so each print collection is a bonus.
Plus, when you think of it, all the numbered SCE books are out, so S&S might consider the other books (especially since the series was renamed with the relaunch to Corps of Engineers) as a completely separate series. But don't forget that other people would also like to see the recent Typhon Pact novella released in print sometime as well.