These are the voyages of... what? Really? Who??? Who Cares????

Clark Terrell and the crew of the Sagittarius,

Jefferson Blackmer
T'Ryssa Chen
Dina Elfiki
Miranda Khadahota
Sam Bowers
99% of the crew of TItan


I have no emotional vested interest in any of these people who have shown up in my trek lit.

I'm torn on this for two reasons. I do enjoy the contuing exploration of things like Worf and Riker, but I hate the old married Picards and their little snotty kid.

With the TOS books we just jump into the series and tell fun stories. I think the TNG books especially now with how much we know about these characters, I would much rather see the tales of what happened throughout season 4 with all of the crew back together. Same goes for DS9. How i long for Quark and ODo and Ben and the Old Man...

 

Some people simply don't like change, that't fine with me.

While I'm not especially fond of René Picard's full name, I really enjoy the Picard family. René doesn't seem to be a second Wesley. Hopefully he is not. He's just a kid. And Picard proud of being able to continue the line of Picards.

I wasn't fond of Chen either. But she has also great moments. She's an asset to the Enterprise. She's not close to me yet. That may change over time, who knows. As you have no emotional vested interest in some of the new characters, then it is good for you, that in most of the (TNG) novels the established characters take center stage.

I for one like change. I'd like to see more of Elfiki and the other supporting characters, additionally to Chen. I recently finished Cold Equations - The Persistence of Memory. I couldn't feel Choudhury's loss like Worf did. I hardly knew her. The job of chief of security changes over time. It is logical, as it is a risky job.

So I can relate a little bit to your mixed feelings. I once said that I wish Chen were gone. Now I'm not convinced of that anymore. Some more scenes with Faur, Elfiki, Halstad and Smhrova (I surely have mispelled it, so let's say Aneta) would be nice. Just to get to know them better.

In the DS9 relaunch the newbies blend in quite well with the crew IMO.

 

Developed and ongoing novel continuities are hardly unique to Trek, and have proven quite successful in other franchises. I had my issues in the beginning but have slowly come around and am now an avid Trek novel reader. It's nothing shocking, as on-screen Trek gravitated away from the 24th century and eventually ended altogether, Pocket realized there was fertile ground to tell new stories, and new kinds of stories. And the novel exclusive New Frontier series was proving popular enough to prove that readers will read about characters who aren't from the shows.

True, it is a fact TOS novels set during the TV series run are still the best selling which is why we still get as many as we do, but I do find we get enough of a balance between the developed continuities and the stand alone TOS fare a year to satisfy everyone, regardless their preference. Although, the occasional TV series run novels from the other shows would be nice, too. Definitely something to think about with that 2387 glass ceiling looming over 24th century novel continuity.

 

While I've like some more than others, overall I've really liked most of the new characters the books have introduced.
I really don't mind getting stories about characters who weren't on the shows or in the movies. We got tons of stories about the screen characters over the years, adding new characters just gives us more opportunities for different stories.

 

Count me as another who really likes the relaunch series and the changing continuities. In real life, characters grow, change, move on to other jobs, marry, have children, even die (maybe not come back to life, though!). To me it makes the current Treklit more realistic, in ways that the TV shows and movies often were not.

I would like to see some of the original characters developed more fully, but that's something I hope the authors will work on, not a reason to not read the books.

 

I care.

 

I care too. I'm enjoying the relaunch stories immensely.

Choudhury is an excellent example of a new character who it's possible to care about.

 

Alas, she didn't last very long. I hope we see more of Aneta.

 

Worf doesn't get an easy life. They say O'Brien must suffer but Worf...

 

Some of the characters mentioned are a bit forgettable and I would quite happy to see Chen disappear. But there are Treklit characters who are as real to me as the TV stars. The first that springs to mind is Elias Vaughn and Captain Calhoun.

 

While I don't dislike what the 24th century novels have done, I DO agree with you. Enough is enough. Let's see some books set in their series time frames.

 

For me, Choudhurys fate is more a reminder to not care about them that much.

 

This is part of the reason I stopped reading the DS9 relaunch. I got through a few books when they first came out, but I just didn't enjoy the new characters or what was done with some of the older characters. I will never understand the love for Elias Vaughn.

I'm not opposed to new characters as a rule, though. "New Frontier" is my favorite Trek Lit series, and that's basically ALL original characters.

For me, part of the reason that I fall in love with a series is because of the group dynamic. While it might be more realistic for people to change careers and move on to other things, in fiction I have a very difficult time seeing groups of characters split up.

 

I like Chen. She is the only new character on the E-E that has made any impact on me. The rest of them seem to fade into the background.

 

Jefferson Blackmer is a character so bad at his job he quit his job twice in two different books. I can't say he was ever really given characterization, just that weird personal conflict between him and Ro that was... kind of resolved?

Dina Elifki's a good character who really hasn't gotten any time or spotlight since the first DTI book.

One of my current favorites right now is Ravel Dygan, though. I want more of him.

 

I second that.

 

Why not?

I mean, unless you just are incapable of becoming emotionally invested in original characters. Which, if that's the case, I wonder how you could possibly become emotionally invested in any character in any novel, not just a Star Trek novel.

But we already have those stories. We have 176 of them -- it's called the Star Trek: The Next Generation TV series. We know what happened in Season Four of TNG, and we've known what happened in Season Four of TNG for twenty-four years now. Children have been conceived, born, grown up, graduated from college, begun careers, and started families all in the amount of time that has passed since "Redemption, Part I" aired in 1991.

Shit is old hat. There's nothing new there. No new interesting stories to tell.

I am way more interested in what Picard is like now that he's actually changed as a person and gotten married and become a father and is contemplating retirement, than I am in what Picard was like in that 16-year stasis chamber of almost no character development and no evolution that we call the time period between "Encounter at Farpoint" and NEM.

That story's over. It's been told. Time to move on.

 

Speaking only for myself, I've a much greater appreciation of Terrell's character now that I know more about him than when he first appeared in TWOK. I've always liked his character, but his death has a much more profound impact on me--largely because I understand something about who he was, beyond his being a starship captain.

Not everyone has the same tastes, which is fine. I agree that it would be nice to see more novels set during each of the series (although TOS still has several); I'd also like to see more novels set during the TOS movie era--perhaps even a novel or two with Terrell commanding the Reliant (not meant to be a specific story idea). But I like the directions the series have taken recently and am glad that so many characters--both old and new--are off having new adventures instead of reliving their pasts.

--Sran

 

This is where I shamelessly mention that my TNG story in the Seven Deadly Sins collection is set back during the TV show era. Ditto for the VOYAGER segments in No Time Like the Past.

You look hard enough, there's stuff for every tastes. Both ongoing, serialized storylines and old-fashioned standalones.

 

This.

I've drifted away from the 22nd and 24th century shows and slowly lost interest in the novels as they left the TV show timeframes behind. But if I do get an itch, there are more than enough novels I haven't read set during the various TV series that I can easily scratch the itch.