Children of Kings blurb?

DarkHorizon · January 26 2010, 08:36 PM

Simon & Schuster's page for Dave Stern's April TOS release has been updated with what appears to be a new blurb. It's a bit odd though...

Simon & Schuster wrote:

A distress call goes out from a Federation outpost near the Klingon border. The U.S.S. Enterprise, under the command of Captain Christopher Pike, responds. Starbase 18 lies in ruin. There are no survivors. And there is no clue as to who is responsible for the attack, until Captain Pike’s brilliant science officer discovers a means of retrieving parts of the station’s log. Lieutenant Spock has detected signs of a unique energy signature, one that he believes is Klingon. There are unsubstantiated reports that the Klingon Empire has made a technological leap forward and created a cloaking device—code-named Black Snow Seven—that can shield their ships from even the most advanced sensors. The destruction of the base and the unique energy signature that remains prove that the Empire has succeeded.

For generations the Orions have been known as pirates, operating at the margins, outside of legal conventions. A proud and powerful race, the Orions were once a major force in the sector, and they have been using the tension between the Klingon Empire and the Federation to rebuild their power. Captain Pike is charged with trying to foster cooperation between the Orions and the Federation. A distress call from an Orion vessel offers him the perfect opportunity. But the Orion ship lies in disputed space long claimed by the Klingon Empire, and crossing it could be the spark that sets off an interstellar war.

For one, this is a very different blurb from that which we got from the publishers' catalogue a few months back, which had to do with the Enterprise doctor being held captive by the Orions in the midst of increasing aggression from the Syndicate. Obviously, as with all the catalogue details, we are never supposed to take that as being the final blurb, but it was really that far away from what the actual story is?

The other thing that struck me - is it me, or does this almost seem to be describing two separate books: one about the Klingons and their development of a cloaking device, the other about contact with the Orions? You could draw a line between those two paragraphs, and they would easily serve as blurbs to two different novels.

Paris · January 26 2010, 08:47 PM

This sounds great. Dave Stern is good writer and I have confidence that this will be another great read like Troublesome Minds (supposedly)was

. It will be pretty cool to see how the Klingons came to be in the possession of the cloak. Maybe they got it from the Orions...

8of5 · January 26 2010, 09:11 PM

Oh nice, that sounds rather interesting. Given the setting I hope the novel explores the notion a cloaking device/sensor arms race that the use of cloaks from Enterprise to Balance of Terror would seem to hint at.

Christopher · January 26 2010, 09:20 PM

DarkHorizon wrote:

For one, this is a very different blurb from that which we got from the publishers' catalogue a few months back, which had to do with the Enterprise doctor being held captive by the Orions in the midst of increasing aggression from the Syndicate. Obviously, as with all the catalogue details, we are never supposed to take that as being the final blurb, but it was really that far away from what the actual story is?

The other thing that struck me - is it me, or does this almost seem to be describing two separate books: one about the Klingons and their development of a cloaking device, the other about contact with the Orions? You could draw a line between those two paragraphs, and they would easily serve as blurbs to two different novels.

I'm not sure if this is the case here, but if you look at a number of blurbs on Trek novels from the past few years (for instance, say, Greater Than the Sum), they're basically rather lengthy descriptions of only the early portion of the novel, rather than overviews of the entire plot. So they can be misleading about the actual story and emphasis of the book. What seems here like two separate plotlines may be pieces of the same overall story, with the connection becoming clear in later portions of the book that the blurb doesn't address.

JD · January 26 2010, 09:49 PM

This sounds really cool. I'm a big fan of the Klingons, and Orions, and I've been curious to read some Piker era stories. I'm working my way through Early Voyages on the DVD comic collection, but that, The Cage/The Menagerie and ST09 are the only Pike stories I've experienced.

Defcon · January 26 2010, 09:59 PM

^ If you want to read more Pike, you should really read Burning Dreams by Margaret Wander Bonanno. Great novel.

JD · January 26 2010, 10:06 PM

I've been wanting to since it first came out, I've just never gotten a chance to get it yet. I've got a bunch of other older Trek Lit books that I wanted to get through, and I'm also reading the new releases as they come out.

Paris · January 26 2010, 10:47 PM

Consider the vote for MWB's Burning Dreams seconded right here

. This is one of the reasons I'm jazzed for this book. We need more Pike on a regular basis!!

Paris · January 27 2010, 01:52 AM

Does anyone know what year CoK's takes place in?

...that's an unfortunate short form

mbruno · January 28 2010, 06:26 AM

Paris wrote:

This sounds great. Dave Stern is good writer and I have confidence that this will be another great read like Troublesome Minds (supposedly)was

. It will be pretty cool to see how the Klingons came to be in the possession of the cloak. Maybe they got it from the Orions...

Troublesome Minds was written by Dave Galanter, though. Perhaps you got your Daves mixed up.

Christopher · January 28 2010, 01:35 PM

^Right. Dave Stern is the author of several ENT novels including the Shockwave novelization, What Price Honor?, the Daedalus duology, Rosetta, and "Nobunaga" in Mirror Universe: Shards and Shadows. He also wrote the Captain Sulu audio adventure Transformations and cowrote issue 18 of DC's TNG comic. And he was the editor of the Trek novel line in the late '80s and early '90s.

Reanok · January 28 2010, 04:13 PM

Interesting Book blurb. I'm definitely planning on getting this book.Captain Pike in a new novel is long overdue.And having the Orions trying to cause problems between Starfleet and the Klingons. and how they solve this crisis and why the Orions want to stir up trouble is what I want to read and find out how the mystery unravels in this book.

Paris · January 28 2010, 04:16 PM

mbruno wrote:

Paris wrote:

This sounds great. Dave Stern is good writer and I have confidence that this will be another great read like Troublesome Minds (supposedly)was

. It will be pretty cool to see how the Klingons came to be in the possession of the cloak. Maybe they got it from the Orions...

Troublesome Minds was written by Dave Galanter, though. Perhaps you got your Daves mixed up.

Oops

. My bad. I did get my Dave's mixed up...

Dave Stern wrote the Destiny Trilogy, right

?

LightningStorm · January 28 2010, 06:18 PM

Paris wrote:

Oops

. My bad. I did get my Dave's mixed up...

Dave Stern wrote the Destiny Trilogy, right

?

Yes, and DS9: Mission Gamma: Twilight.

What?!

mbruno · January 29 2010, 03:44 AM

Paris wrote:

mbruno wrote:

Paris wrote:

This sounds great. Dave Stern is good writer and I have confidence that this will be another great read like Troublesome Minds (supposedly)was

. It will be pretty cool to see how the Klingons came to be in the possession of the cloak. Maybe they got it from the Orions...

Troublesome Minds was written by Dave Galanter, though. Perhaps you got your Daves mixed up.

Oops

. My bad. I did get my Dave's mixed up...

Dave Stern wrote the Destiny Trilogy, right

?