We Need Voyages of Imagination vol. 2

[marlboro]

The original is an incredibly handy reference book for any fan of Trek books, and it's led me to discovering several hidden gems. But it's 12 years out of date now, and I'd love to see an updated volume with all the new books, new interviews, and some high quality scans of the covers.

Who's with me?

And, if there ever is a new edition, what are some additions that you would like to see that may have been absent from the original? Timelines, character bios etc.

 

[F. King Daniel]

I am amazed the original Voyages of Imagination was ever made. It was aimed at a niche of a niche market and I doubt it had the best sales figures. But it was amazing.

A Volume II would be cool, and they could feature noveleverse character bios and whatnot to pad it out, and hopefully interview those that declined the first time. Not holding my breath though, especially since The Picard Show is about to bring some huge changes to the novelverse.

 

[tomswift2002]

If a Volume 2 was ever done, it would be nice to see the all the covers for all books. In Volume 1, the books that were reissued as “Classic” for the 40th Anniversary has only their 40th cover (i.e The Entropy Effect) on their page, where it would’ve been nice to see the original and 40th.

 

[Mysterion]

^^^
Agreed. TPTB should take a good look at the Star Wars - The Essential Reader's Companion for some tips on how to do this better. This book does for SW lit what Voyages attempted to do for Trek lit, but does it a lot better. IMO. YMMV.

 

[DimesDan]

I personally don't feel such a publication is needed, but it would be nice if one was compiled and released.

 

[RonG]

Yes! a thousand times "yes"!

VoI2 is a dream book for me, and I would pre order it the second it would be available

 

[JD]

I would love a second Voyages of the Imagination, but the argument could be made that pretty much everything you'd want in the book can be found online, so it's really kind of unnecessary.

 

[Christopher]

I would love a second Voyages of the Imagination, but the argument could be made that pretty much everything you'd want in the book can be found online, so it's really kind of unnecessary.

Except author interviews and an updated Pocket Timeline.

 

[JD]

Well, not the official timeline, but there are timelines on Memory Beta and the Lit-verse Reading Guide. We've got Literary Treks for interviews, and I've seen other sites do occasional interviews too.

 

[Mysterion]

Except author interviews and an updated Pocket Timeline.

And don't forget another couple dozen "The author declined to be interviewed about this book." statements.

 

[marlboro]

Pocket Books wouldn't have any reason to promote a competitor, of course, but interviews with some of the more prolific comic writers and artists would also be an interesting addition.

I also would be interested in reading about the author's favorite episodes and books.

 

[Christopher]

Pocket Books wouldn't have any reason to promote a competitor, of course, but interviews with some of the more prolific comic writers and artists would also be an interesting addition.

Are we competitors? I see it more as a partnership. We're all fellow licensees of CBS, so we're all promoting the same thing rather than competing with each other. There have been a lot of times when the novels and comics have cross-referenced each other or done collaborative projects.

 

[marlboro]

Are we competitors? I see it more as a partnership. We're all fellow licensees of CBS, so we're all promoting the same thing rather than competing with each other. There have been a lot of times when the novels and comics have cross-referenced each other or done collaborative projects.

I have no idea. I was just sitting here thinking about editing my post when I saw your response.

The labyrinthine nature of corporate America is mind boggling. Between D.C./Time Warner, Marvel/Disney, and the other companies who've published Trek comics I figured at least one of them would be considered competition.

In any case, I'd love to see at least some the comics included.

 

[Jbarney]

Well, not the official timeline, but there are timelines on Memory Beta and the Lit-verse Reading Guide. We've got Literary Treks for interviews, and I've seen other sites do occasional interviews too.

As far as the timelines that are available elsewhere.....if something like Voyages of Imagination ever happens again, or if there is a new Chronology published....what Timeliners is currently working on is more detailed than anything I have seen anywhere else. We have kinda jumped down a couple of rabbit holes, and well, the results are not done yet, but the direction we are headed is VERY impressive.

 

[Christopher]

The labyrinthine nature of corporate America is mind boggling. Between D.C./Time Warner, Marvel/Disney, and the other companies who've published Trek comics I figured at least one of them would be considered competition.

If their original properties were competing with each other, sure, but we're talking about tie-ins here. CBS owns Trek, and all Trek tie-in licensees are thus basically subcontractors to CBS, working on its behalf. Heck, within the past year I've written for two different Trek licensees, Pocket (novels) and Modiphius (RPGs), and that isn't seen as a conflict of interest. It's all in service to the same franchise.

Granted, Marvel Studios, Fox, and (formerly) Sony have been competitors where Marvel movies were concerned, but that's different for several reasons. One is that they're competing for the same niche, movies, instead of parallel tracks like novels, comics, and games. One, I'm guessing, is that Marvel sold off those rights when it was financially desperate and thus doesn't have as much control as they'd have if they just subcontracted a production to an outside studio. (Pocket needs CBS's approval to renew its license every few years, but Marvel isn't able to reclaim its rights as long as the other studios keep exercising theirs; ultimately Disney had to buy Fox altogether to get its Marvel rights back.) And another is probably that there's so much more money at stake with movies, so everything is heightened.

 

[Stevil2001]

And don't forget another couple dozen "The author declined to be interviewed about this book." statements.

Oof, yes, those aggravated me so much. There wasn't any research Jeff Ayres could have done to plug those gaps?

 

[JD]

I was thinking, more than a book, I would rather see something like this done as either a website or even an app, something that could be regularly updated every time a new book came out. I know I mentioned the some sites that do this kind of stuff, but those are pretty much all fan run, so it could be nice nice something actually official, that is fully sanctioned by CBS.

 

[tomswift2002]

Pocket Books wouldn't have any reason to promote a competitor, of course, but interviews with some of the more prolific comic writers and artists would also be an interesting addition.

I also would be interested in reading about the author's favorite episodes and books.

In Volume 1, there were whole sections about the Bantom & Ballantine books, which I believe are both currently owned by Random House.

Of course it’s nice that vol 1 exists, as we still have the thoughts of authors who have since died.

 

[marlboro]

Of course it’s nice that vol 1 exists, as we still have the thoughts of authors who have since died.

Yeah, those types of interviews are a treasure. I also enjoyed the interviews with the SNW writers; it was fun to read about just how excited they were to be published.

I also appreciate the comments from some of the lesser known, and less prolific authors. I tracked down several good books that I would have otherwise skipped over because of some of these sections. The Forgotten War by William R. Forstchen is a good example of what I'm talking about.


The tiny bits of behind the scenes info about the things the writers have to deal with like insanely short deadlines and sudden changes in editorial policy are also fascinating. The author explaining that he employed a pseudonym because of the implementation of computer ordering by bookstores was also interesting.

 

[Cloud]

I was thinking, more than a book, I would rather see something like this done as either a website or even an app, something that could be regularly updated every time a new book came out. I know I mentioned the some sites that do this kind of stuff, but those are pretty much all fan run, so it could be nice nice something actually official, that is fully sanctioned by CBS.

I would love a general app where you could check off books you purchased. I had the old one, but it stopped getting updated a few years ago.