Stargazer

What's going on with Stargazer?
Was it not selling?
Would it sell better (do you think) if it was open to any and all Star Trek authors, instead of just one?

Personally, I'd love to get a more detailed history of Picard's Stargazer years, particularly a definitive, detailed account of his friendship with Jack Crusher, followed by Crusher's demise, and Picard's attempts to continue as captain.

When I started buying the Stargazer series, I was amazed to discover that Jack Crusher wasn't even in it. (Yet)

(Apologies if this subject has been done to death)

 

He was on the Stargazer for, what, like 22 years or something? It'd be pretty hard to write a comprehensive, detailed series covering so much time.

That said, TNG: Reunion covers Crusher's death in pretty exacting detail, and Crusher also has some extremely entertaining scenes with a young Tuvok in Double Helix: The First Virtue (which, I might add, despite being the 6th book in that series, is perhaps better read without the rest of them, mostly because they all pretty much suck. It stands on its own nicely.)

 

Lol. Nice

And okay, maybe not that detailed, but I would have liked to have had at least some books in the series that had Crusher as a crewmember, and witness that particular crew dynamic.

If wishes were horses.

Also, I wouldn't have thought it would be that difficult to get a bundle of stories out there, considering how quickly SCE jumped from 1 to 60+ stories!

Still, that's not a request, just an observation.
Peace

 

The Stargazer books were okay, but the best Picard story before the TNG era was definitely Christopher's The Buried Age. It details the loss of the Stargazer, the subsequent court-martial, and the intervening years before the TNG started. Jack Crusher's death was also explored at least a little and from Beverly's perspective in William Leisner's Losing the Peace.

I would love to see Christopher continue the tales of the Stargazer. It was an exploratory vessel on the fringe of the Federation for the majority of the 22 years that Picard was in command. Christopher has proven, more than once, that he can give us those awesome exploration books with interesting and fresh aliens. Just look at his Titan books. I bet his books would sell shitloads more than MJF's as well...

 

That's a fantastic idea! The Buried Age was fantastic. You're right: Chris would be perfect for it.

(So long as it doesn't cause him to miss out on writing more Titan books!)

 

KRAD made a long post at one point talking about how you'd be amazed how little the author of a tie-in matters in terms of sales; I'm inclined to agree with him. We die-hard fans will follow particular authors, but we few on the internet aren't exactly a great example of any kind of major trend. I doubt we'll be seeing any more Stargazer books; if they didn't sell under MJF, it's a remarkably unlikely proposition they'd sell under CLB.

But that said, I agree with you; any chance to get Christopher writing more big-ass science-based "it's a huge, amazing universe out there" stories in any series works for me.

 

Good point.

I forget we are the exception, and not the rule.

 

The Stargazer series was merely enjoyable (although I never got around to reading the final two), although Reunion is one of my favorite Trek novels. One of these days I will get to The Buried Age. I swear...

 

^ Oh, it's a good one.

 

I enjoyed Stargazer, but sometime after the series drew to a close, I reread Reunion, and I was bummed we never got the adventures implied by that novel-- a small, underpowered ship on the bleeding edge, no backup, no second chances. While I liked what we got, I would've liked to have seen that.

 

A return to the Stargazer days would be nice. I found I enjoyed most of the stories.

 

Given that Picard's Stargazer career spans over 20 years, there's actually several "eras": his first few years, which is what we've had in the Stargazer line so far; the middle period where Picard is known to have had a few not-so-successful relationships (seeing then ditching Jenice not-yet-Mannheim, becoming smitten with Beverly, Miranda Vigo); and the final years, which Reunion touched on.

 

^Well, technically what we've had in the Stargazer novels is the first six months of Picard's captaincy. That's sort of a prologue to the main phase of the ship's career, which is a deep-space exploration tour, or rather, several consecutive ones with the occasional return to the Federation between them to allow for events set closer to home.

 

The books didn't sell as well as Pocket had hoped?

And we've still got 20+ years to cover?

Bring on the Stargazer Anthology!!

 

^An anthology would be perfect. You could cover a vast amount of time by just sampling certain years. If interest spiked, further novels about Picard's Stargazer days could be a reality. Even if a Stargazer story/situation was the 'b' story of a TNG story it would be cool. Just sayin'

 

Personally, I never found the Stargazer series to be that interesting.

However, I loved The Buried Age.

 

Did the final SGZ novel get much of a chance to act as a "conclusion" and bring finality and wrap things up as well as possible? Or was it more like a cancelation?

 

It pulls the events and running themes of the first six books (seven if you count The Valiant) together, but definitely leaves the door open for new adventures.