Spoilers NO SPOILERS FOR CODA - A Lit-verse Grand Finale...What We Know (Spoilers for Entire Lit-verse)

[Leathco]

Granted, I see all the talk of book schedules, and I feel one thing: doing a few extra printings to close the chapter for the community that has kept the Trek Book scene active seems like the right thing to do.

 

[Greg Cox]

Speaking of the "novelizations of episodes" thing, other TV tie-in lines that went that route included PLANET OF THE APES, BEAUTY AND THE BEAST (the Linda Hamilton version), THE X-FILES, and MERLIN. Again, I was always kinda disappointed when a book series took that approach. Seemed like a wasted opportunity to tell new stories about those worlds and characters.

(To be fair, X-FILES did some original novels as well.)

 

[The Wormhole]

My point is the ST litverse has always been unique

Eh, not really all that unique. The interconnected Litverse didn't really start until 2001, a decade after Star Wars began its interconnected novel continuity. Besides, ultimately it all comes down to the fact that everything ends eventually, nothing is permanent or forever. The Star Trek Litverse ending after twenty years due to the franchise's return to TV is a good thing and the best case scenario imaginable for Trek novels. The fact that they're getting their own finale even after the new shows are on the air and publishing their own novels is in recognition of that success. There wouldn't have been this much effort spent in saying good-bye to the Litverse if it had to end due to poor sales and there were no new shows on the air.

 

[JD]

They did novelizations of X-Files episodes? I've only ever seen the original novels and novelizations of the movies.
Buffy The Vampire Slayer had novelizations of several early episodes, and a whole ton of original novels. Angel had a novelization of the pilot and a bunch of original novels.
I noticed you don't really see episode novelizations any more. With so many of the kinds of shows that tend to get novelizations being heavily serialized, it would probably be hard to pick which episodes to novelize. The most recent one I know of is Once Upon a Time: Reawakened, which novelized all of Emma Swan's season 1 story arc. I loved Once Upon A Time, but I've always been a little hesitant, because that seems like an awful lot of story to cover in one 352 page book. OUaT does also have original tie-ins, which are on my book wishlist.

 

[diankra]

BTW, Simon and Schuster has just been bought by the company that owns the Who publisher. Don't hold your breath for crossovers, but the same company does own the printlines of both now.

 

[diankra]

Eh, not really all that unique. The interconnected Litverse didn't really start until 2001, a decade after Star Wars began its interconnected novel continuity. Besides, ultimately it all comes down to the fact that everything ends eventually, nothing is permanent or forever. The Star Trek Litverse ending after twenty years due to the franchise's return to TV is a good thing and the best case scenario imaginable for Trek novels. The fact that they're getting their own finale even after the new shows are on the air and publishing their own novels is in recognition of that success. There wouldn't have been this much effort spent in saying good-bye to the Litverse if it had to end due to poor sales and there were no new shows on the air.

And the original Who books were it, and interconnected, from 91 to 05.

 

[diankra]

Interesting, but I suspect that's very much the exception to the rule. Much as we enjoy reading (and writing) the books, tie-in novels exist as extensions of the shows and movies. The shows sell the books, not the other way around, regardless of whether you're talking Star Trek, Doctor Who, Star Wars, Buffy, Supernatural, etc.

The exception is possibly Who in the 90s.

 

[diankra]

How do you figure? Books cater to a smaller audience than the DVDs. It's confirmed the books are only read by 1% of fandom. While I'm not sure the exact statistic of who buys DVDs, I'm pretty certain it's significantly higher than 1%.

The books are a supplementary aid to the show, a means to get fans of the show to read books. They are not a means to hook viewers to the show. Doing so would be the literal definition of the tail wagging the dog, and Star Trek most definitely is not a franchise where that happens.

Different levels. From my personal experience, a con could sell out at 800, a book was good if it got over 5000, a magazine was a disappointment at 20,000 and a success at 35,000, and a series got cancelled at a million but renewed at 5 million.
All different measures of success, for different media.

 

[Enterprise1701]

Different levels. From my personal experience, a con could sell out at 800, a book was good if it got over 5000, a magazine was a disappointment at 20,000 and a success at 35,000, and a series got cancelled at a million but renewed at 5 million.
All different measures of success, for different media.

I do not see how that disproves The Wormhole's assessment.

 

[diankra]

I do not see how that disproves The Wormhole's assessment.

A success at one level is not a success at another. The Litverse succeeds on its own terms.

 

[DEWLine]

Would you rather have a reboot of the timeline, or create a PICverse where the current Litverse is split off from it?

I'd also prefer a split. More toys to play with that way.

 

[Sci]

It may be rare, but it's not impossible. I got into the books first, and that led me to get into the television show.

Interesting, but I suspect that's very much the exception to the rule. Much as we enjoy reading (and writing) the books, tie-in novels exist as extensions of the shows and movies. The shows sell the books, not the other way around, regardless of whether you're talking Star Trek, Doctor Who, Star Wars, Buffy, Supernatural, etc.

Oh, I don't deny that that's typically the case, which is why you don't see new Buffy or Quantum Leap novels, but since when has Trek been typical? The first books were "novelizations" of the actual episodes. Had that ever happened before (or since)? Not to mention the Photonovels. (On second thought, let's not mention the Photonovels.) The first proper ST novel (Spock Must Die) came out after the show had left the airwaves. Then the movies and subsequent series each created lore (not to be confused with creating Lore) that cross-pollinated throughout the franchise as a whole. Had that ever happened before? Without that effect we could never have seen such great efforts as "Federation" or your own "Eugenics War" series. My point is the ST litverse has always been unique and I, for one, would hate to see that uniqueness destroyed in favor of the sort of cookie-cutter, essentially meaningless, put the toys back in the box the way you found them, works (however good they might be individually) which characterize your typical tie-in books. Just one fan's thought process.

I'm not sure I follow what the awesomeness of TrekLit has to do with the question of how relatively common or uncommon it is for people to get into the shows because of the books instead of the other way around?

 

[Ronald Held]

More books per year would be welcome.

 

[diankra]

Oh, novelizations and tie-in books date back to the silent film era at least, not to mention radio dramas like THE LONE RANGER and THE GREEN HORNET. As a kid, I confess I always preferred tie-in books that featured new, original stories, like the GET SMART and DARK SHADOWS novels, to books that merely adapted TV episodes I'd already seen before.

And, at the risk of showing my age, I like to think there's still something to be said for old-fashioned "standalone" tie-in books of the sort I grew up reading (and still basically write) along with the sort of interconnected media "universes" that are currently in vogue.

Note I said "along with," not "instead of." I like to think there's still room for both approaches.

A few years back, I actually did a presentation at the Library of Congress (!) on the history of novelizations and tie-in books and, yes, the further back I looked, the more I found. And indeed it seems that "novelizations" of popular stage plays predated movie novelizations. Meanwhile, many of the first "movie novelizations" were originally serialized in magazines and newspapers before being reprinted in book form.

It's a long and hallowed tradition.

I have a vague feeling that in ages past there were novelisations of stage plays, so people who didn't get the see the play could still follow the plot. Vague memory that there might be some lost Shakespeares that are thought to have existed due to records of the novelisations having existed. Might be misremembering here though.

 

[Stevil2001]

I have a vague feeling that in ages past there were novelisations of stage plays, so people who didn't get the see the play could still follow the plot. Vague memory that there might be some lost Shakespeares that are thought to have existed due to records of the novelisations having existed. Might be misremembering here though.

This isn't my time period of study, but I'm an English professor and I've never heard of this, and it feels like a thing I would have heard of. It would be pretty unlikely based on what I do know, given the novel as a form didn't emerge in English for a century after Shakespeare's death.

 

[diankra]

This isn't my time period of study, but I'm an English professor and I've never heard of this, and it feels like a thing I would have heard of. It would be pretty unlikely based on what I do know, given the novel as a form didn't emerge in English for a century after Shakespeare's death.

I had my doubts about my memory. Tristam Shandy is often quoted as the first British novel (and the pioneer of the unreliable narrator).

 

[Mike Doyle]

I have a vague feeling that in ages past there were novelisations of stage plays, so people who didn't get the see the play could still follow the plot. Vague memory that there might be some lost Shakespeares that are thought to have existed due to records of the novelisations having existed. Might be misremembering here though.

This exact thing was mentioned on a recent episode of “no such thing as a fish” podcast. I can’t remember the exact details but I think they were serialised in papers rather than sold as a book, same as Holmes originally.

As for novelising episodes I think that made sense in the 60s because if you missed it when it was broadcast then a book was the only way you could “watch” at home. With the advent of home video/streaming etc seems like a waste to me but seems to be done a lot still.

The Dr Who episode novelisations for something that is being discussed in another thread and revise / add to the episode some retcons. For example the 13th doctor appearing in the day of the doctor novelisation which was actually the first appearance of the 12th.

 

[Mister Spock]

More importantly, the first three Who novelisations came out in 64/65, prior to Trek, and in the 50s there had been novelisations of Journey into Space.

That's true, but I was being needlessly pedantic as the three novelisations in the early 1960s were one-offs by a different publisher. The line proper began when Target acquired the publishing rights in 1973 and began to put them out as a monthly range.

 

[TJ Sinclair]

I'm sad to see the Litverse end, ultimately, but I recognize the 'necessity' of it, given the nature of tie-ins. 20 years is a good long time, and for the bulk of it, the Litverse was the only new Trek to be had on a regular basis. Much like Doctor Who and the Virgin New Adventures, I'm grateful to Pocket/Gallery and all the authors, along with STO and some of the fan films, for carrying the torch through to this new era.

I'm sure TOS books will continue much as they have been, and like the new "canon" Star Wars books, I'm sure we'll see references, concepts and characters from the earlier works make appearances in the new books as things go. It's still very early, but The Dark Veil will probably pull from the Titan series where it can, in ways that will hopefully be non-contradictory for the future. I'd rather them not rush things too fast, and get overruled later, like the first DISCO novel.

I'm going to miss a lot of things -- Tuvok on Titan, Captain Ro, Castellan Garak, but at the same time it's also an opportunity to go in a different direction with certain things. And I'm looking forward to future books fleshing out characters like Raffi and Rios.

 

[Stevil2001]

This exact thing was mentioned on a recent episode of “no such thing as a fish” podcast. I can’t remember the exact details but I think they were serialised in papers rather than sold as a book, same as Holmes originally.

I would be curious to know the episode if you can. Serial newspaper fiction wasn't a thing in the UK until the early 1800s-- long after Shakespeare!