Star Trek Voyager: The Eternal Tide by Kirsten Beyer

This.

(a bit harsh on the language, but still...)

This.

 

Lyndsay Ballard was the premise character in that episode about the ensign who was killed and then resurrected by an alien species that reproduced by appropriating the recently-deceased bodies of other races. She recovered her memories of her time on Voyager and returned, but then decided that her new nature meant she belonged with the aliens.

 

Janeway returning would be very a disappointing cop-out of a great dramatic move by Pocket Books. No matter what, I'll be buying The Eternal Tide, but it might be my last Voyager book depending on how it goes.

 

Right, because the books all bombed after she was killed.

 

^ I know, right? The book will sell because Beyer's a great writer and has established a good reputation among TrekLit fans.

Hopefully it doesn't feature Janeway's return, just more of her influence, and it's way too soon to be done with Eden. Though I'm sure if it is Janeway's return it'll be done well, I'll just be disappointed with the creative choice.

 

^That's pretty much how I feel as well. And if she does come back, I just hope it was entirely Kirsten Beyer's idea and that it wasn't forced on her by the editors. It never seems to end well when major story points like that are forced on people.

 

Personally I don't think it's the return of Janeway. I know the cover probably ain't final, but didn't she have the "bun-of-steel" in Nemesis and on that cover, it looks like it's the short haired version of season Four to Seven.

As for Janeway actually being on the front cover, I'd chalk it up to the cover not being final or some fangirl or fanboys wishful thinking. If it's the cover and she does appear, my hope is that she'll either appear in flash back or some form of temporal timey-whimeyness and isn't a full blown return from the dead.

 

^ I don't think I'd say those were her exact words, but I've always gotten that impression as well.

 

To be honest, I wouldn't mind Janeways' return at all. After all, the ending of Before Dishonor does strongly suggest a return, its just a case of when. I'm just surprised that Kirsten decided to bring her back so soon into the run, after all I thought that'd be a great plot point for a 2015 novel and the 20th Anniversary.

I'll be sorry to see Afsarah Eden go though.

 

That's not how I read it. In that scene, Lady Q drives home emphatically that Janeway can't go back, only forward to whatever new state of being she was about to transform into. Janeway questions that by pointing out that Spock came back from the dead, and Lady Q just glares. So I wouldn't say that's strongly suggesting a return; I'd say it's strongly suggesting that a return is unlikely, but leaving the door open just a crack in case a future writer or editor decided to reverse it.

I think the problem is that resurrections and retcons have become so routine in SF/comics that when fans see even that tiniest crack of an opening, they expect it to be acted on. So that what was intended by the writer to say "Don't expect this to be reversed... though here's just the faintest glimmer of hope" ends up being interpreted as "This is definitely going to be reversed."

And it may have been The Wrath of Khan/The Search for Spock that started that trend. When they inserted the "Remember" line and the intact torpedo tube in the ending of TWOK, they didn't actually have any specific plans to bring Spock back; they just wanted to add a vaguely defined sense of hope to the ending so it wouldn't be so depressing. But since they did bring Spock back in the very next movie, it looks in retrospect like they were deliberately setting up his resurrection.

 

Cute

My point being, as she grew her hair post Endgame, although not 100% fool proof, it would be safe to assume that come her death, she would have still had the long hair and the "bun-of-steel" and not the shorter hair she sported in seasons Four through Seven.

 

Lady Q said Janeway can't go back, and she hasn't. She's gone forward in time (although it's possible, to her, that very little "time" has passed). Anyone who thought that Janeway would stay "gone" is, perhaps, a bit naive. Janeway sells books. PB has figured that out in the last three years.

Science fiction allows us to change the parameters of our existence and fiddle with the laws of science (faster than light speed, tranportation, etc.), and this is a prime example of that. People who seem to have died haven't died. It isn't any harder to believe that than it is to believe that the Q Continuum exists.

And while the people at PB might want to believe that they are writing some great saga or epic that is not just comprehensive, but complies with the poetics of the ages, they might as well get over it. It's Science Fiction, and it's supposed to break the rules.

I think Beyer will do a great job of bringing Janeway back into the DQ universe. If there are some who will not buy the books, that's fine--they can stay in the AQ with the rest of the Destiny story line. I, and many others, are more than ready to go back to the DQ and see Janeway and her crew frolic amongst aliens she dealt with before and will meet in the future!

 

Are you under the impression that you are more likely to persuade the authors to write the kind of stories you want to see by ascribing ego to their efforts at writing a quality story, and then insulting the genre by implying that science fiction has no verisimilitude and anyone expecting such is expecting more from the genre than it possesses?

 

^ Well said.

You have no evidence for a downward trend in Voyager book sales from Full Circle on. Indeed, seeing as Beyer has been commissioned for books pretty consistently the evidence available to fans is completely opposite this.

 

I'm not trying to persuade the writers to do anything. I'm here to discuss things, not feed anyone's ego.

There is great literature out there that is science fiction based; I just haven't read much great literature in the Star Trek novels. It is what it is, and it has a healthy market, apparently, but it isn't rocket science ( ) or brain surgery or "literature" in the larger sense of the word (I doubt anyone is going to be reading it in a century or so).

I have to smile when I see posters talk about "ruining" the story or "cheapening" the plot by bringing Janeway back from the Q Continuum. Come on. Where's the sense of fun, the humor, the playfulness that have made the franchise special? She didn't die, she went for an extended vacation with the Q. Make the most of that.

I think Beyer will, and I look forward to reading it.

 

I was wondering when the crazy was going to creep into this thread. AuntKate, we all know how you feel (despite, as others have pointed out numerous times in the past, there is little, if any, evidence to back up your opinions), but is it too much to ask for discussion about this novel and the possible meaning of the cover image without the bias and insubstantiated opinion-flinging?

I'm a Kathyrn Janeway fan and would not be adverse to her return. However, I am hesitant to jump to the conclusion that, if she returns, Asfarah Eden will be written out of the story because there is no evidence of that happening, nor is there really a reason for it to happen because there are really no similarities between them other than that they are both women Starfleet officers who have captained Voyager.

 

No, you're just here to insult people for no reason. You can accurately say that much Star Trek fiction is intentionally written to be middle-brow without insinuating that anyone has delusions of literary grandeur when they write those novels.

Star Trek encompasses many different kinds of stories, both serious and dramatic, and escapist and comedic. However successful or unsuccessful at achieving dramatic verisimilitude you may view the writing of Janeway's death, it would be a fundamental violation of the creative conceits found in Before Dishonor and in the subsequent Beyer novels to write the story of Janeway's return as an act of humorous escapism.

That's not to say there isn't room for humor and escapism in Star Trek and Trek Literature. But just as it would be inappropriate to do a sequel to "The City of on the Edge of Forever" as a comedy, it would be inappropriate to bring Janeway back in such a manner. It violates the originating creative conceits.

Further, even if you prefer escapist science fiction with a lesser demand for verisimilitude, this does not mean that all science fiction lacks verisimilitude and that no science fiction should be held to such a standard. And you can critique a science fiction novel without disrespecting those standards of verisimilitude.