The quality of the novel line itself, and the evolution of plots and character development going forward, both for elements from the onscreen media and elements original to the books. I got into Treklit because I love the shows, sure, but I've stayed in it because I love the books. And I honestly think that the Trek litverse as it is and has been since the DS9 relaunch is better as a whole than on screen Trek; to me, the book highs are better than the show/movie highs, and the book lows are better than the show/movie lows.
Dear TOS novel writers, it's not you. It's me.
- Thread starter Stoek
- Start date
The quality of the novel line itself, and the evolution of plots and character development going forward, both for elements from the onscreen media and elements original to the books. I got into Treklit because I love the shows, sure, but I've stayed in it because I love the books. And I honestly think that the Trek litverse as it is and has been since the DS9 relaunch is better as a whole than on screen Trek; to me, the book highs are better than the show/movie highs, and the book lows are better than the show/movie lows.
I don't want to "kill" anything. I simply want the 24th century books to go back to telling stories within their series' timeframes. They can do that, AND keep the current line going. But I'm not going to get what I want in this regard, nor do I ever expect to, so I don't see why that worries you.
The problem with that, is that we already have so many ongoing series it would be hard to fit TV series era books in there, and still give us new entries in each series. We already miss a year here or there when we have trilogies and miniseries devoted to one specific series, so I'd hate to lose even more spots to TV series era books.
I did have one thought recently, e-books. E-books would be a perfect way to give people short, episodic TV series era stories without losing a spot on the paperback schedule.
I did have one thought recently, e-books. E-books would be a perfect way to give people short, episodic TV series era stories without losing a spot on the paperback schedule.
The problem with THAT is that some of us don't read e books until they are re-released in printed form. Which is a practice Pocket has stopped.
It's not really a problem though. Pocket seems content to continue things as is, so I imagine those of us who want the series era back are simply out of luck.
Not a bad idea. That's pretty much what my own recent MIASMA was: a short, episodic adventure set during the TV series. That was a TOS story, but there's no reason they couldn't do the same for the latter-day series once in awhile, which wouldn't interfere with main publishing schedule.
Personally, I prefer "dead tree" books, too, but I'm realistic enough to realize that times are changing and ebooks are becoming a larger and larger part of the market. (Most of my backlist royalties come from e-sales these days.)
I don't want the relaunches to end, but to pretend that there are 'real stakes' is untrue. In x years of relaunch, there have been three changes to the post Nemesis set up as far as our known TV heroes are concerned...and I have no clue how to use spoiler tags so...WARNING for old spoilers...
Data, came back, but didn't really as he's off being Harry Mudd rather than actually back, Janeway died, but she's back, and Deep Space Nine got blown up and replaced with a dull version. That's it.
All other changes have been incremental and have very little positive impact, whether returning to status quo or as near as. Promotions give an extra pip or three but change very little, or get basically undone (hello goodbye Captain Geordi) or serve to sideline established characters into borderline cameos or plot tools (Kira and Sisko, and now Dax and Bashir)
To pretend that majority of readers are not reading the books for the Star Trek branding is disingenuous....if it was just for their scifi content, why bother with the licensing? There are cheaper, better (from a certain point of view) options out there for readers. (Space Captain Smith is excellent for Pratchett fans, and has the absolute best Star Trek conference story to happen...just not in Trek. Read them. They are awesome.)
The draw has to be the franchise, and our family of characters....but the glacial pace, combined with the fact they don't actually seem to be the people we remember, except for occasional flashes (and the recent upswing in quality has helped me enjoy them more than I was) has worked against the books. They are very much treading water, it's just not familiar water.
I don't want to see the relaunches end, I just want to see them move a little closer to what those series titles actually refer to, and not go the way of the Star Wars EU (which by the end were really bound up in their own little history and were turning into something very much not like Star Wars. They were really tired when they ended.)
Which brings up another important point...new viewers to old Trek are going to be brought in by this new series and the streaming of the older series. And when they come to the books...what will they find?
It's time to open that literary sandbox up, but also move it closer to what we knew before, even if we have to temporal shenanigans the heck out of the DS9 station.
It wasn't during the TV series...it was better than that. It was pure unadulterated Movie Era, but felt like an imaginary TV series somewhere between V and VI. I wish it had been a bit longer, and wish there were more like it. Because as I have said before...for some people, like myself, the Movie Era is where our versions of Kirks crew resides. Not in the Technicolor sixties, but in the white, blue, gray and beige sets of the Paramount lot.
I am reading it for the Star Trek branding. But for the setting as a whole, not just because I want to see things with characters from the shows. For the continuing evolution and development of the Star Trek universe. I love the shows and movies, but I've never been invested in the setting that we saw there the way I'm invested in the setting as presented in the books.
I certainly don't think I'm in the majority by any means, true; I'm sure I'm an outlier when it comes to the general audience of the novels. But I exist as a type of reader, at least.
I am reading it for the Star Trek branding. But for the setting as a whole, not just because I want to see things with characters from the shows. For the continuing evolution and development of the Star Trek universe. I love the shows and movies, but I've never been invested in the setting that we saw there the way I'm invested in the setting as presented in the books.
I certainly don't think I'm in the majority by any means, true; I'm sure I'm an outlier when it comes to the general audience of the novels. But I exist as a type of reader, at least.
Totally. But I never feel that setting moving much book to book. What happened to the girl from the Roman planet in Titan? Stuff like that makes me interested, then...nothing happens.
I read Trek for the overall universe, with Starfleet, Klingons, Romulans, ect. and for the types of stories Star Trek tells, not just for the TV characters.
I think the success that New Frontier, SCE, and Vanguard, all of which featured only minor appearances from major TV characters, found obviously shows that we're not the only ones who feel that way.
I think the success that New Frontier, SCE, and Vanguard, all of which featured only minor appearances from major TV characters, found obviously shows that we're not the only ones who feel that way.
You're right; that was a movie-era story.. My memory tricked me there. I've been jumping around the timeline so much in recent years (April's ship, Pike's ship, TOS, the movie era) that I get a little confused sometimes.
That's fair, but then there's the question of if that's a problem with plotting, or is it a problem with branding?
I think it goes hand in hand, and to a certain extent with author choices and editorial direction. A deep space nine book should focus on deep space nine characters, but choices made along the way means theres less of those 'available' from the TV series. The same is true of TNG. (allowing in both cases, for the end state we saw those characters in.) VOY has the advantage in that when we left the characters their immediate futures were less defined. But overall, if you can go 6 novels, over about 4 years, and a character who was in the opening credits of the series in its final year, has barely an appearance, then something is going wrong. Fixing this has led to an upswing of late, but along the way some of what the relaunches were doing fell by the side. The first ds9 relaunch was doing a good job with new characters...then got messed with and things fell down the back of the story sofa. Ds9 in particular suffered with the big umbrella stories of late.
Tng has been almost directionless of late, and we are basically down to 4 series characters left on the enterprise when that screen arc ended. But is Tng about the ship or the characters? In which case should the Titan be more recurring in the TNG books? Would it find more success that way?
The same is true of Dax and the Aventine...often mooted to get its own series, ot never does, so should it be more recurring in Ds9? Will Sisko ever have anything to do again?
Books arent limited by cast budget or effects budget...but there seems to be a length budget at play, combined with ring fencing of characters, which is making itself felt across the board. (in this day of ebooks, worrying about page count is rather silly, especially when in mainstream sci fi the doorstop never went out of fashion and serials are back in)
I do keep wondering if my feelings on this are tainted by simply not liking some of the choices made in the books, but then something obvious sticks out...like Miles O'brien barely getting a line in a story about his best mate flushing his career down the toilet for the greater good, while a Tng recurring guest star shares the star billing instead, or other characters appearing just to tick a box while the story focuses elsewhere....with the current output release achedule thats just not a good way to do something.
If you're referring to Atia from The Poisoned Chalice, she's busy being the first officer aboard the USS Lionheart.
I think I described Atia's hair as "wine-dark"; so, kind of a henna red colour. I'd like to return to the Lionheart crew one of these days...
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