I just don´t get it. Yes, I know the reason why they are doing this, wanting to sync the books up with all the new onscreen stuff but I just don´t get why we can´t keep having both like it´s been for many years. Why couldn´t they just make two seperate book lines? Just give the Litverse books a subtitle like "Extended Universe" and the others something like "a Star Trek Tie-In Novel" to avoid confusion. I don´t understand why this has to be a situation where we can´t have both at all. I know that I´m beeing emotional here.
The three authors explain the rationale in their interviews. Links here: https://twitter.com/DavidAlanMack/status/1465765574789713940?s=20 The short version is, the novels are tie-in fiction. That means new novels must match the on-screen canon. Unfortunately, Star Trek novels are not a property on their own that can be marketed as their own unique thing, unlike Marvel movies and Marvel comics, for instance. Why were we able to have both the novelverse and new canon content in the form of ENT, KEL and DSC? Because the novelverse focused on the post-NEM prime universe, which these shows mostly left alone. With PIC, LD and PRO, this is an active period of canon productions again, so there's no room for a distinct novel continuity. At least the novels won't vanish from our shelves and Kindles.
I mean, hell, even Star Wars, which had the explicit marketing label of "Legends" for the stuff published prior to the Disney buyout, has stayed to Disney's canon, not producing any further works set in that timeline. That is a franchise that outright HAS the "slap a subtitle on it to say it's not connected to what's being put on screen" label, and they STILL don't do that. (And yes, I'm aware that these are different franchises and publishers, but my point is that this is a similar situation and it's not getting that happening.) The novels are always meant to be tie-ins to what has been put on screen. On screen Trek now outright contradicts the ongoing novelverse, going back years. That happens, it's ALWAYS going to be the tie-ins that end up getting told to wrap it up - the people on this board are NOT a reflection of the audience at large. We're maybe 1% of it, being generous. Sure, I think most of us would be happy with a label distinction and putting both timelines on the same shelf. But on average, if a person is picking up a book at random, they're going to expect it to feature the characters that feature from the shows, on the ships from the shows, in the time of the shows. I mean, there's a reason that, historically, the novels set during the TOS five year mission tend to be big sellers. The ongoing novelverse may have been selling well, but at this point, with what Picard and Lower Decks have established about the 24th century following Nemesis, they no longer tie in to canon. We're fortunate to have gotten Coda. The novelverse continuing on despite canon was NEVER an option.
Nothing is permanent and everything ends. Be thankful the reason the Litverse has ended is because there's new TV shows overruling it and not low sales/Pocket losing the license. This is literally the Best Case Scenario for the Litverse.
And while it's vanishingly unlikely that anything new, other than fanfic, or some anthology of "explicitly not prime" short stories (a la Myriad Universes, or the "speculations" section of a SNW anthology), would take place in the "First Splinter" universe, if it did, we now have a name to call it. At the risk of straying into the forbidden realm of "story ideas" (although this is more an "anthology title idea"), how about an anthology called something like Spoiler: Anthology (or anthology series) Title Tales from the First Splinter (it sure beats "Legends")? I know I'd buy it. And I'd certainly rather read something like that, than (say) a Section 31 story, or a Dominion War story, or a Xindi War story. I really do wonder why DW, JS, and DM were explicitly told, "Hands Off," with regard to the Q and the Krenim.
*sigh* You don't know how media business runs at all, do you? Read above; the authors have explained this dozens of times since even before the Kurtzman era began streaming. And I'm feeling kind of vicariously attacked by the thread title considering all three Coda authors are members of this forum.
Damn straight, "Enterprise1701." Especially the part about the thread title. While there is precedent for ST fiction that's explicitly outside of any canon universe, I'm not holding my breath for it to happen with the First Splinter, or with (as was suggested this morning in the Coda 3 review thread -- hi there, Mr. Bennett) any surviving branch thereof. I've compared Coda with Saving Private Ryan, and I stand by that comparison: it was a harrowing trilogy to read, just as Ryan was a harrowing movie to watch, but it was, at least in my judgment, worthwhile. And even those of us who hated the trilogy have had some kind of emotional reaction to it. (I find myself thinking of Data's famous 10-Forward scene, with his emotion chip, and a drink he finds disgusting, yet still finishes, and orders a refill.)
You can argue the wrap up trilogy was unnecessary, but no way would the Litverse continue. I can't imagine it being profitable enough to risk confusing potential new readers with an explicitly anti-canonical world.
The Litverse had to end, it was inevitable. I'm not entirely keen on how it ended but I can also understand why the authors chose to end it the way they did.
"Available Light" and "Collateral Damage" were released before Picard started airing, so they weren't contradicting canon at the time of release. "To Lose the Earth" would have been released earlier, but Beyer was busy with other things. And "Coda" seems to have more leeway.
Well, arguably Coda is consistent with the new canon by explicitly defining the novelverse as an alternate timeline and acknowledging that the new canonical events supersede it.
Because CBS agreed that they they didn’t want to pull a LucasFilm and just drop It like a hot potato.
OK, thank you. It's perfectly acceptable to ask if something was necessary, but "stupid" was more on the pejorative side, so I have taken that part out.
I have to say, Orci and Kurtzman really opened up a can of worms with the whole alternate reality stuff due to ST09. Frankly, just about anyone could make their own skew off of the Prime/Kelvin/whatever universe, etc.
It is a bit odd since the novels are never canon anyway. It’s not like the new litverse will be. Look at the bright side. You can save money since there won’t be another one anytime soon