2018 Releases

[Greg Cox]

True. Ideally, even a book that's part of a larger saga should work on its own. Heck, if I reference an old TOS episode, I never assume that everyone reading the book has seen that ep or remembers it in vivid detail, so I'll always throw in a recap of some sort. "Kirk had last seen Lenore Karidian more than twenty years ago . . . "

Just saying that a standalone novel might be more enjoyable to the casual reader than a book where you're going to feel like you're coming in on the middle of the story. If I'm looking for a novel to read on a plane, I'm probably not going to pick up Vol. 6 of the Zarkoz Chronicles if I haven't already read the first five volumes.

And, yeah, I don't want to be too strident (or self-serving) about this either. Just wanted to make the case for standalones, since there's sometimes an assumption these days that "serialized" automatically trumps "standalones."

(By coincidence, I'm proofing another LIBRARIANS book today and, yes, I took care to explain once again who the Librarians are, who the Serpent Brotherhood are, how the Magic Door works, etc.)

 

[MadeIndescribable]

I agree that stand alone stories are always going to be appealing to new/casual readers, but the trouble is that not all are going to have a volume number, etc. One of the first Trek novels I read was the DS9 Section 31 novel Abyss, but had no idea was it set post finale, let alone had new characters etc.

 

[Damian]

True. Ideally, even a book that's part of a larger saga should work on its own. Heck, if I reference an old TOS episode, I never assume that everyone reading the book has seen that ep or remembers it in vivid detail, so I'll always throw in a recap of some sort. "Kirk had last seen Lenore Karidian more than twenty years ago . . . "

Just saying that a standalone novel might be more enjoyable to the casual reader than a book where you're going to feel like you're coming in on the middle of the story. If I'm looking for a novel to read on a plane, I'm probably not going to pick up Vol. 6 of the Zarkoz Chronicles if I haven't already read the first five volumes.

And, yeah, I don't want to be too strident (or self-serving) about this either. Just wanted to make the case for standalones, since there's sometimes an assumption these days that "serialized" automatically trumps "standalones."

(By coincidence, I'm proofing another LIBRARIANS book today and, yes, I took care to explain once again who the Librarians are, who the Serpent Brotherhood are, how the Magic Door works, etc.)

I agree, I find value in both. With Star Trek I love that the relaunches have continued the stories. In a way since I read all those novels I feel like I'm in a bit of an exclusive club. I "know" what happened to the Borg, I "know" how the Romulan War occurred, I "know" about the missions of the Titan, and of course so much more. I've even come to care about the characters in those stories that we've never seen. I was sad about what happened to Choudhury, just as an example, even though she was never seen on screen. For me TNG, DS9, Voyager and Enterprise all are continuing (well, I hope in the next decade or so at this point, sigh). I know the writers are usually quick to point out you don't have to read the prior novels to know what's going on (unless it's book 2 of 3 of a 3 part series of course), and they always put in a very brief summation of what you need to know (in such a way it's not a distraction to the rest of the story). But personally I think you miss something if you don't read the others--they're great stories in their own right.

But standalones are fine also. The original series books seem to mostly be standalones. I thought some of the recent original series books have been excellent. In fact, I've even advocated for an occasional standalone TNG, DS9, Voyager and Enterprise novel that takes place during the TV series run--something unrelated to the relaunches. I'd love a story during that period (and it would be a bit nostalgic since the relaunches, particularly of TNG and DS9, don't include many of the series characters anymore--since it's years later a number of characters have moved on, and Enterprise, ironically in a way, doesn't even feature the Enterprise anymore ).

 

[Defcon]

I doubt that CBS had anything to do with it, or at least not concerning the license deal. CrossCult's Trek line appears to have some financial difficulties for some time. For example, since 2012/2013 which ahd about two books per month the number of published books went down to one, then the Enterprise line got canceled due to low sales (although later relaunched in the form of Rise of the Federation), then Corps of Engineers gets canceled after 28 novellas due to low sales, Voyager has reportedly been low on sales every since Children of the Storm and it was also admitted that pretty much every TOS novel is a garantued failure which is why they can really only publish one per year. Also, New Frontier, I believe, was said to sell about as well as Voyager, which is kinda sad considering that Voyager at least has some brand recognition in the general audience, while New Frontier has none.

Also, prices have been going up a lot. Since the beginning (2008) the standard price has been 12.80€ which has increased to 12.99€ by 2015. The first novel published last year, The Missing, which was extraordinarily short (less than 300 pages) cost 14€, the same price the nearly 600 pages long Twilight was priced in 2010.

I'm just saying, it's probably due to different reasons than the current Pocket hiatus.

FWIW for those interested, Markus Rohde, editor of Cross Cult's ST line has posted the following on Cross Cult's forum regarding the three month hiatus at the end of the year:

"Das ist korrekt. Wir sind gerade dabei, unser umfangreiches STAR TREK-Romanprogramm interessierten Neulesern besser verfügbar zu machen. Um den Einstieg zu erleichtern, haben wir kürzlich die vergriffenen Printausgaben von VANGUARD und TITAN als Print-On-Demand-Ausgaben wieder verfügbar gemacht, an den Neuausgaben der vergriffenen ENTERPRISE- und THE NEXTGENERATION-Bände arbeiten wir gerade. Danach sollen weitere wichtige Reihen folgen. Diese Arbeiten gehen gerade auf Kosten unserer Kapazitäten und der Novitäten. Dazu kommt, dass wir parallel ein neues Manga-Programm (Manga Cult) auf die Beine stellen. Ein Verlag wie Cross Cult, mit einem kleinen Team, muss sich manchmal auf bestimmte Themen fokussieren. Da es immer noch keine Infos über weitere neue US-STAR TREK-Romane (abgesehen von DISCOVERY) gibt, ist die verlangsamte Taktung bei den deutschen STAR TREK-Titeln auch gar nicht mal so schlimm."


Rough translation:

"This is correct [that they are having a three month hiatus]. At the moment we are working on making our extensive Star Trek novel program more accessible for new readers. To make the entry easier, we recently made the out-of-print books of Titan and Vangaurd available again as Print-On-Demand releases, and we are working on re-releases of out-of-print Enterprise and The Next Generation novels. Other important series are planned to follow. These efforts are negatively affecting the capacities [of Cross Cult] and new releases. In addition we currently try to establish a new Manga program (Manga Cult). A publisher like Cross Cult, with a small team, sometimes has to focus on specific projects. And since there are still no news regarding about upcoming Star Trek novels [in the US] (with the exception of Discovery) the reduced schedule of German Star Trek titles isn't that bad."

BY the way he also said that the German translations of the Discovery novels are doing "okay" from what they can gather so far, but that there isn't much info yet.

 

[Jinn]

FWIW for those interested, Markus Rohde, editor of Cross Cult's ST line has posted the following on Cross Cult's forum regarding the three month hiatus at the end of the year:

"Das ist korrekt. Wir sind gerade dabei, unser umfangreiches STAR TREK-Romanprogramm interessierten Neulesern besser verfügbar zu machen. Um den Einstieg zu erleichtern, haben wir kürzlich die vergriffenen Printausgaben von VANGUARD und TITAN als Print-On-Demand-Ausgaben wieder verfügbar gemacht, an den Neuausgaben der vergriffenen ENTERPRISE- und THE NEXTGENERATION-Bände arbeiten wir gerade. Danach sollen weitere wichtige Reihen folgen. Diese Arbeiten gehen gerade auf Kosten unserer Kapazitäten und der Novitäten. Dazu kommt, dass wir parallel ein neues Manga-Programm (Manga Cult) auf die Beine stellen. Ein Verlag wie Cross Cult, mit einem kleinen Team, muss sich manchmal auf bestimmte Themen fokussieren. Da es immer noch keine Infos über weitere neue US-STAR TREK-Romane (abgesehen von DISCOVERY) gibt, ist die verlangsamte Taktung bei den deutschen STAR TREK-Titeln auch gar nicht mal so schlimm."


Rough translation:

"This is correct [that they are having a three month hiatus]. At the moment we are working on making our extensive Star Trek novel program more accessible for new readers. To make the entry easier, we recently made the out-of-print books of Titan and Vangaurd available again as Print-On-Demand releases, and we are working on re-releases of out-of-print Enterprise and The Next Generation novels. Other important series are planned to follow. These efforts are negatively affecting the capacities [of Cross Cult] and new releases. In addition we currently try to establish a new Manga program (Manga Cult). A publisher like Cross Cult, with a small team, sometimes has to focus on specific projects. And since there are still no news regarding about upcoming Star Trek novels [in the US] (with the exception of Discovery) the reduced schedule of German Star Trek titles isn't that bad."

BY the way he also said that the German translations of the Discovery novels are doing "okay" from what they can gather so far, but that there isn't much info yet.

Oh, well, I'm glad to hear that this is the reason for the hiatus.

 

[Kilana2]

Oh, well, I'm glad to hear that this is the reason for the hiatus.

Still, they could sell more books. It's a crying shame that they don't. Especially TOS. So I have to resort to the original novels. Reading them in English takes me considerably longer. At least I'm capable of unterstanding the gist of a story.

 

[Jedi Ben]

Ah man, I would have loved to have been there for that....

Going by its sheer reputation.... No, you wouldn't!

 

[Defcon]

No idea if this has or will have any impact on the licensing deal, but Gallery Books has a new VP Editorial Director:

Aimée Bell Joins the Gallery Books Group as Vice President, Editorial Director

NEW YORK, April 3 – Aimée Bell is joining the Gallery Books Group as Vice President, Editorial Director, beginning on April 17th. News of the appointment was announced today by Jennifer Bergstrom, Senior Vice President and Publisher of the Gallery Books Group to whom Aimée Bell will report. In her new position, Ms. Bell will oversee the editorial staff for fiction and nonfiction books as well as acquire and edit her own titles.

Aimée Bell comes to Gallery from Vanity Fair, where she was a Deputy Editor and Books Editor. In her 25-year tenure at the magazine, she edited the award-winning columnists James Wolcott and Christopher Hitchens, as well as such distinguished writers and cultural figures as Fran Lebowitz, Martin Amis, and Tom Stoppard. She also worked with such longtime Vanity Fair contributing editors as Bob Colacello, Lisa Robinson, Bruce Handy, Amy Fine Collins, Laura Jacobs, Mark Rozzo, Jim Reginato and the artists Risko, David Downton, and Hilary Knight. She oversaw the International Best-Dressed List and edited the Proust Questionnaire and Portrait pages. Ms. Bell served as a juror for the 2017 and 2018 Pulitzer Prizes and has twice been a judge for the National Magazine Awards. She got her start in journalism as an intern at SPY Magazine.

“I am thrilled to have Aimée join our team. She is an editor who has worked with some of the most ambitious, influential, and commercial authors – from Nora Ephron, Dave Eggers, and A.M. Holmes to Sloane Crosley, Pippa Middleton, and Bono. Her sharp editorial instincts, creative thinking, and keen sense of what’s current in the zeitgeist make her the perfect person to lead the editorial direction of Gallery Books as we continue to expand our list and publish both established voices and emerging new ones,” said Bergstrom.

“I’ve long admired the list that Jennifer Bergstrom and her team have built at Gallery Books – from smart nonfiction and pop-culture bestsellers to innovative fiction. The chance to lead a team of inspired and opinionated editors and to creatively collaborate with the publicity and marketing teams is a challenge I’m looking forward to embracing,” said Bell.

The Gallery Books Group consists of Gallery Books, Scout Press, and Pocket Books. Bestselling titles from the Gallery Books Group include The Last Black Unicorn by Tiffany Haddish, The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware, The Girl with the Lower Back Tattoo by Amy Schumer, Five Presidents by Clint Hill, Still Alice by Lisa Genova, The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky, and Selp Helf by Miranda Sings. Simon & Schuster, a part of CBS Corporation, is a global leader in the field of general interest publishing, dedicated to providing the best in fiction and nonfiction for consumers of all ages, across all printed, electronic, and audio formats. Its well-known imprints and divisions include Simon & Schuster, Scribner, Atria Books, Gallery Books, Pocket Books, Touchstone, Adams Media, Threshold Editions, Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing and Simon & Schuster Audio and international companies in Australia, Canada, India, and the United Kingdom. For more information visit our website at www.simonandschuster.com.

http://about.simonandschuster.biz/news/aimee-bell/

 

[The Wormhole]

Is this the new leadership person who ended up cockblocking the renegotiations? If so, now that joining the company is publicly announced, might that mean some forward motion on the license might start to happen?

 

[Defcon]

Nope, that was Jennifer Bergstrom, Senior Vice President and Publisher of the Gallery Books Group, who joined Gallery Books in August, although her appointment being a factor in the delays was only a theory, not a fact if I remember correctly.

 

[Sci]

Star Wars currently has this little problem called The Last Jedi that makes the whole Rough Beasts of Empire controversy around here a few years back look like a firecracker!

(The most interesting aspect of the comparison being that the books eventually, it was only with Original Sin the last piece was got, built up a story that made sense of it all combined with a more positive resolution. I'm nowhere near as confident SW can pull that off due to film being far more high-profile.)

Meh, I'm not worried. As Mikey Neumann at FilmJoy's Movies With Mikey pointed out in a recent video essay, The Empire Strikes Back was absolutely lambasted by a lot of people when it first came out -- largely for many of the same reasons The Last Jedi has been attacked (aka, it went to a darker, less emotionally reassuring place than its predecessor, it threw popular fan theories out the window, and it didn't otherwise match people's preconceptions about what a Star Wars movie "ought" to be) Later, Return of the Jedi was commended as a return to form. But just as the passage of time has made people realize the artistic quality of The Empire Strikes Back, I think the same thing with happen to The Last Jedi.

 

[Jedi Ben]

I'm not so certain of that, as there are certain unique factors on TLJ that really change it. It can now probably be said that it's become more controversial than Batman vs Superman and would anyone have expected that a couple of years ago? Some of it is entirely due to the film's plot and the moves it makes, other are things it was unlucky on, like Carrie Fisher's death.

Everyone pretty much knows the schism points by now. It's four months later, interest ought to be on Solo but I'm not sure it is. The fire should have died out by now but this one doesn't seem to be fading.

 

[Damian]

Everyone pretty much knows the schism points by now. It's four months later, interest ought to be on Solo but I'm not sure it is. The fire should have died out by now but this one doesn't seem to be fading.

It still may be a bit early to tell, but I think you may be right. Esp. these days. In 1980 you could expect a controversy to linger a while. But these days everything moves at a hyperkinetic pace. What's popular (or unpopular) today a lot of times is gone tomorrow as the next "big" thing comes a long. If people are still dwelling on the Last Jedi now, months later, in this day and age, that could be significant. However, I'm not sold on that quite yet. I think a lot of it will depend on how Solo turns out. If people love it, then The Last Jedi may start to wane a bit. If Solo comes out and either doesn't do well, or for whatever reason people are still going on about The Last Jedi, then that could be an issue for them.

So I'd wait until Solo is in the theaters a week or so and see what people are talking about.

 

[Mage]

The fire should have died out by now but this one doesn't seem to be fading.

Oh it's fading. There's just some people around that keep throwing logs on the fire.

 

[Jedi Ben]

Oh it's fading. There's just some people around that keep throwing logs on the fire.

Logs or paraffin cylinders?

See, I no longer know. I'm active on Force.net so there I see a more pro-TLJ, less anti activity, but a week or so back I'm chatting about this with a net acquaintance elsewhere who's more active on Twitter and Facebook and his picture of it all was the exact opposite of mine. Far more anti-TLJ activity compared to pro.

I think a lot of it will depend on how Solo turns out. If people love it, then The Last Jedi may start to wane a bit. If Solo comes out and either doesn't do well, or for whatever reason people are still going on about The Last Jedi, then that could be an issue for them.

I think the Q will be: Are those who are hacked off at TLJ be sufficiently so as to punish Solo for sins not of its making by refusing to see it? Or will that refusal be saved for Episode 9? I'm currently split on Solo myself, there's pieces of the trailers I really like the look of but other pieces I'm less certain of.

Right, is there any news come in to get us back on tpoic?

 

[Mage]

Logs or paraffin cylinders?

See, I no longer know. I'm active on Force.net so there I see a more pro-TLJ, less anti activity, but a week or so back I'm chatting about this with a net acquaintance elsewhere who's more active on Twitter and Facebook and his picture of it all was the exact opposite of mine. Far more anti-TLJ activity compared to pro.

With the risk of sounding like a friggin hipster, I decided a long time ago to stay away from that bullshit. I like chatting on forums, and some facebookgroups and shit. But I no longer read what other fans thought about the movie and long rants against people who have different opinions. I like and dislike what I like and dislike. I might post that. If someone who hated the movie (I liked TLJ) wants to then post a long shitpost about what sort of weak Star Wars fan I am for liking it, I just skip that shit and move on. It's pointless.

So, yeah, I just watch my fandoms, geek the f*ck out like a motherf*cker or think 'well that sucked' and move on. Don't really care about what other people think.

 

[ClayinCA]

Right, is there any news come in to get us back on tpoic?

As a Doctor Who fan of long-standing, I remember the so-called "Wilderness Years," when we were all waiting for announcement on the show's future (which the BBC constantly promised was coming "soon"), so on the one hand, all this waiting doesn't bother me. On the other hand, with Doctor Who we had books to tide us over!

 

[Jedi Ben]

I was going to say you had Big Finish, but they only started towards the end of the 90s.

 

[Tim Thomason]

As a Doctor Who fan of long-standing, I remember the so-called "Wilderness Years," when we were all waiting for announcement on the show's future (which the BBC constantly promised was coming "soon"), so on the one hand, all this waiting doesn't bother me. On the other hand, with Doctor Who we had books to tide us over!

Star Trek still has comics and video games (and, also, a TV series and a couple of upcoming movies) to tide us over until we learn more about the books.

 

[The Wormhole]

^^The TV series is currently on hiatus until the new season is ready, and the new movies are in the very early stages of development.