Destiny--Why not more DS9 or VOY characters?

[bionicbob]

Just finished book II of the Destiny trilogy, absolutely excellent so far! Looking forward to reading the conclusion when it comes out here at my local bookstore next week.

I was curious what was the reasoning behind the editorial decision not to include more characters from either DS9 or VOYAGER? I would have thought TREK in the novel format would have more freedom in use of characters from various series? Especially considering a storyline of this epic magnitude, I would think using some of the more well known characters and their perspective of events would be very interesting to readers.

So why was not a major character like SISKO included? As far as I know, his connection to the BORG (death of his wife, loss of his ship) has never been explored and would give him an interesting view on the events in Destiny.

And why isn't Voyager and it's crew more a significant player? One would think with their years in the Delta Quadrant dealing directly with the Borg would make them a valuable resource and put them more on the frontlines dealing with the threat.

I am not complaining. As I said, I think this story is fantastic. Best Trek Lit I have read in a very long time. I am just very interested in how a franchise story in constructed and why certain editorial decisions are made concerning the use, or non-use in this case, of the more well known characters.

Any insight would be very appreciated.

[MichaelS]

I would assume that it was thought to be better to limit the connections to the ongoing DS9 and VOY storylines in order to give those series as much room to develop as possible while still including them to some extent. For instance, of the DS9 major characters, we only have Dax, and of her experiences between Fearful Symmetry and Destiny, little enough is known for future DS9 authors to still be able to come up with the stories they feel need to be told. The same is true for Voyager, which we will find out more about in Kirsten Beyer's novel Full Circle.

[bionicbob]

I suppose so....

Though I would assume the editorship would have immediate future storylines for DS9 and VOY already mapped out, and that various characters from said series could still make appearances without revealing any significant plot threads from their respective books???

[Marie1]

Kindof- but Destiny is set so far in the future. Take the DS9R- We've been getting novels since what? 2001? But we're still nine months past where the series ended. There is an awful lot of crew tweaking that could happen over the next few years that probably isn't refined yet. I'm sure the editor could truly say... :P But for us to "really" know who was around or what they were all going through- especially re characters from the series, would be giving something away. Still, I too was a bit surprised there wasn't a few more bits about Sisko, Kira, the Dominion... but that makes me more eager to follow the DS9R.

[William Leisner]

bionicbob wrote:

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I suppose so....

Though I would assume the editorship would have immediate future storylines for DS9 and VOY already mapped out, and that various characters from said series could still make appearances without revealing any significant plot threads from their respective books???

Why would you assume that, when it's the very same editors who worked for over a year with Dave on Destiny, and made certain there was minimal use of those characters?

Remember, too, that the "immediate future storylines" for DS9 are still some four years behind Destiny, and that the "immediate future storylines" for VOY is getting its own big thick novel in just a few more months.

[nx1701g]

As many have said they are limiting the usage of characters from DS9 and Voyager to limit the effects of the Destiny series on those storylines to keep suspense in those stories for characters. Both series are several years behind the current timeline of Destiny.

[bionicbob]

Hhhmmm.... very interesting.

Though I still think at the very least, they could have used SISKO or CHAKOTAYa little more (maybe in Book III?). It could be an excellent opportunity to tease the audience about upcoming DS9 or VOY novels. For example, in book II the Tholian ambassador's reference to "what happened at Taurus Reach" peeked my interest enough that I finally broke down and order the first 3 VANGUARD novels.

Are there any plans then to bring DS9 and VOY novels up to the same timeline as TNG and TITAN series in the immediate future?

[Allyn Gibson]

bionicbob wrote:

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Are there any plans then to bring DS9 and VOY novels up to the same timeline as TNG and TITAN series in the immediate future?

Deep Space Nine? No.

Voyager? My understanding of Full Circle (which amounts to notes scribbled furiously at Shore Leave last July, so in no way is this gospel) is that it takes the story from the Spirit Walk duology, through Destiny, and a little bit beyond that.

[JoeZhang]

wait... the DS9-R books all occur over nine months?

[Marie1]

Well, more specifically- if you start from Perry's "Avatar" books as the start of the Relaunch (I know that there are some books about the Klingons (LHD?), as well as "The Lives of Dax" etc.) then yes. Taran'atar has been on the station about 9 months at Warpath/Fearful Symmetry. Thats how I worked it out anyway. I think Avatar bk 1 starts in April 2376 and WoDS9 Olympus Descending ends in Dec. of that year. The timeling in Unity fills in all the story of 2376...

[Kirsten Beyer]

Allyn Gibson wrote:

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Voyager? My understanding of Full Circle (which amounts to notes scribbled furiously at Shore Leave last July, so in no way is this gospel) is that it takes the story from the Spirit Walk duology, through Destiny, and a little bit beyond that.

Good notes, Allyn. That's exactly right.

I can't speak to the choices about DS9 though I would imagine that the number of stories still to be told between Fearful Symmetry and Destiny had a lot to do with which characters were utilized and how, but in terms of Voyager, the choice was specifically made to keep the use of Voyager's characters fairly minimal in Destiny to give me as much freedom as I needed to write Full Circle.

You have to remember that even though Voyager hasn't had a new novel since Spirit Walk, a number of characters have been used in other fiction lines in the interim and all of that had to be taken into account in developing Full Circle. David was incredibly generous when he was working on Destiny to work with me to make sure that anything he did with Voyager's characters tied in with what I had created. Had that not been the case, Full Circle would have been significantly more difficult to do than it already was.