2018 Releases

[Allyn Gibson]

Saw a Star Trek book group on Facebook who was convinced Titan was the new publisher of Trek books after they saw Prometheus, Book 1.

Looking at who they work with on other properties, I'd certainly be curious to see what Titan's author line-up would look like.

That's not a knock on anyone writing Star Trek for Pocket. Different editors have different stables of writers. Titan's editors would be different than Pocket's editors, and they would have different authors they would turn to than Pocket would. It's just how publishing works.

 

[Markonian]

^ But we’d lose the continuity.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

^ But we’d lose the continuity.

Not necessarily. It would depend, of course, on the editor and whether or not the editor wanted to continue in Pocket's footsteps.

For example, Del Rey didn't dump Bantam's Star Wars continuity when they took over the license in 1999. Technically, the BBC Books Doctor Who novels were supposed to dump Virgin's continuity in 1997, but in practice no one (except Lawrence Miles) paid that any mind. Novel continuity can and has passed between publishers in other franchises. It could happen with Trek, too.

 

[Christopher]

Two of the novels from the original Dell Babylon 5 line were acknowledged, or even sequelized, in the later, canonical Del Rey line, and republished in it as well, though the other Dell novels were considered non-canonical.

Didn't the V tie-in novels change publishers midway through but retain continuity, such as it was?

 

[aventinelover]

Dayton Ward posted a picture on his Facebook feed over the New Year's weekend about a new writing project he has...and he was holding a Kirk and a Gorn action figure.

 

[Dayton Ward]

^ But it’s not a novel, and it’s not for Pocket.

 

[Daddy Todd]

Didn't the V tie-in novels change publishers midway through but retain continuity, such as it was?

Well, sort of. The original publisher, Pinnacle, went belly-up before they could publish their inventory of V novels. After a couple years of legal wrangling, Tor ended up with the rights to publish the last 5 books in the series: already contracted, mostly written, and, in some cases, even typeset (judging by their internal formatting). So, after a two-year hiatus, Tor picked up and published the last 5 books in the line, in 1987-1988.

So, it wasn't a new publisher following the continuity of the original publisher, it was more like a publisher printing & marketing books "packaged" by a defunct, earlier publisher. A subtle difference, but I think it's noteworthy.

 

[Christopher]

So, it wasn't a new publisher following the continuity of the original publisher, it was more like a publisher printing & marketing books "packaged" by a defunct, earlier publisher. A subtle difference, but I think it's noteworthy.

I'd call it a fundamental difference. I was looking for examples of cases where new editors chose to resume an earlier publisher's continuity when developing new books. If the V books were all commissioned, written, and edited under Pinnacle, then they don't represent what I'm looking for at all.

Anyway, I don't think the V novels had all that much continuity to begin with -- mainly just between consecutive books by the same author/s. The only author crossover I can think of is between A.C. Crispin's books and Howard Weinstein's.

 

[tomswift2002]

Not necessarily. It would depend, of course, on the editor and whether or not the editor wanted to continue in Pocket's footsteps.

For example, Del Rey didn't dump Bantam's Star Wars continuity when they took over the license in 1999. Technically, the BBC Books Doctor Who novels were supposed to dump Virgin's continuity in 1997, but in practice no one (except Lawrence Miles) paid that any mind. Novel continuity can and has passed between publishers in other franchises. It could happen with Trek, too.

Even with the early Pocket Trek books back in the 80's, you had continuity in The Prometheus Design and Triangle with the earlier Bantam books.

 

[Daddy Todd]

Even with the early Pocket Trek books back in the 80's, you had continuity in The Prometheus Design and Triangle with the earlier Bantam books.

I don’t remember any continuity between these two and the Bantam stuff. They were the same writers as the Phoenix books, so there were some common themes (and common weirdness) but no references to Omne, or the Romulan Commander, or an extra Kirk running around, that I can recall. Can you remember specifics?

 

[Christopher]

I don’t remember any continuity between these two and the Bantam stuff. They were the same writers as the Phoenix books, so there were some common themes (and common weirdness) but no references to Omne, or the Romulan Commander, or an extra Kirk running around, that I can recall. Can you remember specifics?

There was a reference to Omne in one of the Marshak/Culbreath Pocket novels, I believe. IIRC, one or both of them had a ton of footnotes citing episode (or TMP) references, and there was a footnote about the Phoenix novels too.

 

[tomswift2002]

I don’t remember any continuity between these two and the Bantam stuff. They were the same writers as the Phoenix books, so there were some common themes (and common weirdness) but no references to Omne, or the Romulan Commander, or an extra Kirk running around, that I can recall. Can you remember specifics?

I just read “The Prometheus Design” a few months ago (I created a thread for it, so it should be out there, or picked up by 8 Of 9’s site) and it had a bunch of footnotes referencing the different episodes, as well as books and the short-story anthologies by Bantam.

 

[Daddy Todd]

Thanks for the info! I really should re-read the early Timescape Trek novels...

 

[Ronald Held]

I would leave it with Pocket for the near term. YMMV.

 

[F. King Daniel]

I'm curious, how many novelverse plot threads do we have dangling? I'm waaaaaay behind in my reading, and it'd kinda suck if* things weren't concluded.




*BIG if, as others have explained above

 

[The Wormhole]

I'm curious, how many novelverse plot threads do we have dangling?

Spoiler: plot points from Section 31 Control

One of the bigger ones at the moment is the fallout from Section 31 being exposed in Control and countless Starfleet officers being court-martialed or dismissed, or in Picard's case no longer eligible for promotion.

 

[Burning Hearts of Qo'nos]

There is the open thread of what information about the future Taurik exposed himself to from TNG's Armageddon's Arrow.

There is also what becomes of Bashir post Enigma Tales although this isn't like a full blown cliffhanger or anything.

There is also what sort of misadventures Moriarty and the Countess are up to with their android kids post Cold Equations that's never been brought up again.

And then whatever is going on in DS9, I don't even remember any of the open "main story" threads that may have been left open or closed. I recall Vic and Morn being brought back to status quo, but is that business between Altek, Kira, Ro, and the Faslework still going on?

Speaking of DS9, the Dominion/Jem'Hadar refugees from the Gamma Quadrant are still out and about I think.

 

[JD]

Looking at who they work with on other properties, I'd certainly be curious to see what Titan's author line-up would look like.

That's not a knock on anyone writing Star Trek for Pocket. Different editors have different stables of writers. Titan's editors would be different than Pocket's editors, and they would have different authors they would turn to than Pocket would. It's just how publishing works.

Dayton Ward, Greg Cox, John Jackson Miller, and James Swallow, have all written stuff for Titan. People who used to write Trek books like Peter David, Robert Greenberger, Diane Carey, Christie Golden, Keith R.A. DeCandido, Paul Kupperberg, also write for Titan. So there is a pretty good chance that even if Titan did get the rights to Trek, we could see at least some of the same names from Pocket, and even a few we haven't seen in a while.

 

[aventinelover]

^ But it’s not a novel, and it’s not for Pocket.

Wow. Thank you for responding! Perhaps you're teasing something more in the graphic novel realm???

 

[DrCorby]

Wow. Thank you for responding! Perhaps you're teasing something more in the graphic novel realm???

Or perhaps something for Modiphius' Star Trek RPG?