I just realized with only two more books untill the first part of this new trilogy is released, we still haven't seen any cover-art yet. Or have we, and did I totally miss it??
Yeah, the cover releases for the books have definitely been coming later and later the last few years. We don't even have a cover yet for Dayton's eBook In Tempest's Wake which will be released in less than two months (October 2nd IIRC).
Got nothing on The Assassination Game, the author hadn't even seen that cover until it was released a week before the book!
I don't think we've even gotten a description for it. I checked the official S&S site yesterday, and I couldn't any covers or descriptions.
Well, as long as the covers are of good quality I don't mind waiting a bit longer, it's just that usually we see them earlier then this.
I'm kind of wondering if this trilogy is going to present an opportunity to sort of skip ahead and just read it out of order, i.e. without having caught up with the continuity otherwise yet. Because normally I'm not one to do that, but OTOH if I keep to that it's going to be a fair while longer before I can participate in these review threads I keep opening, and I do crave me some discuss-the-new-book action. The fact that it's a trilogy event and doesn't carry the Typhon Pact banner (which I personally tend to take as the "AQ/BQ main continuity arc" roadsign right now) makes me expect that it'll make bigger concessions to jump-in-here readers than your average novel (even though I do realize that generally speaking, all of the books do a pretty good job at providing all the info you need to enjoy them). Then again, the Destiny novel is held up as an example of a plot-driven opus that nonetheless delivers in the character department, so obviously Mr. Mack isn't going to ignore the arcs the TNG characters are on, and is likely to advance them. So I should probably catch up first after all for the full emotional impact ... Not that any editor should read this as a sign I want more standalone novels ... I love tight continuity and am buying these anyway knowing they'll be more satisfying when I finally get there.
It would make a certain amount of sense to make Cold Equations an entry-point, since they'll be the only novels under the TNG banner released during the show's 25th anniversary year.
Oh geez . I'm complete on SCE, and I'm complete on the DS9 relaunch until "the gap". I've read Articles of the Federation. But as far as TNG goes, I'm only as far as having read Diplomatic Implausibility. That's right, I'm in a position some of you may even envy: I haven't read Destiny yet and have only a very sketchy idea of what it is about (Borg invasion, time travel, introduction of the Aventine). I still get to read it for the very first time! And then I made the "mistake" (quotes since I'm actually enjoying it!) of jumping into Vanguard for some instant gratification instead of facing up to the daunting task of catching up with the main continuity. Once I'm through with those (almost done, missing review threads soon!) I'm going to have to finally start with A Time To ..., and no, I'm too much of a completionist to skip the first six nobody likes. My mission then is to catch up with TNG and DS9, but branch off to Titan at the appropriate time, perhaps in publishing order. I know the Voyager stuff is awesome but I'll probably ignore it for now because it seems to be off doing its own thing, so I can revisit it later. Now, I'm a reasonably fast reader ... when I actually find the time to read, which is mostly brief windows in bed before going to sleep. So it does take me a while ... I wish I had a dreadfully long commute on a bus or something! That, and the Blu-ray re-release might inspire some old time readers to go shopping for TNG novels again.
That's actually a lot of progress. There are a crap load of SCE and DS9 novels. (And Vanguard is totally awesome.) Regarding Voyager, if you're going to read the first four, by Golden, you probably want to do that before you read A Time To...; it just makes a couple little details flow better. Plus they're really tiny tiny books and it won't be too difficult. Definitely read Titan as it branches off. It's really good, until Typhon Pact.
Star Trek: The Next Generation: Cold Equations: The Persistence of Memory Star Trek: The Next Generation: Cold Equations: Silent Weapons Star Trek: The Next Generation: Cold Equations: The Body Electric No covers yet.
Entry-point is gonna be rough. These books will be years past even Destiny which itself was years past the latest filmed Trek. I don't envy anybody looking for an entry point in the same continuity. (standalones would still be fine, as usual)
The cover for the second Cold Equations novel, Silent Weapons has been released. I don't know why only the second was released, but hopefully this should mean the others will be released soon. I know it's kind of simple, but I like it.
So I wonder who will be on the other two? I really hope they include a non-screen character like Choudhury or Chen.