• Welcome! The TrekBBS is the number one place to chat about Star Trek with like-minded fans.
    If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

The Novelverse Stories That Never Were

DGCatAniSiri

Fleet Captain
Fleet Captain
So since it's fair to assume that the "First Splinter" timeline won't be getting any new stories told in it, giving that it's been overridden by canon, I was curious about the novels, the stories, in that timeline that we the audience never got but wish we had.

I mean, I'm not even talking about the big ideas like how the Novelverse would have tackled the destruction of Romulus, or a wrap up of things like the dangling threads that Coda didn't manage. I'm even looking to things like a team up of Captains Ro and Dax, the Aventine having a mission out near DS9 that has both groups working together, or the Gorkon's siege of the Kinshaya homeworld prior to the Borg invasion. Or, a personal desire, a Titan novel centered heavily on Keru - speaking a queer reader, I've been a little frustrated rereading the Titan novels and seeing how he's relatively out of focus when he's one of the first queer "main credits" cast members.

You know, I'm curious about the stories that feature the Novelverse characters and events that just never manifested for whatever reason and now can't that people are still curious about.
 
I would have loved to see more Articles of the Federation-type stories about either Bacco or zh'Tarash.

More Cardassia novels from Una McCormack. (Maybe one that ends with Cardassia joining the Federation.)

More tales of Memory Omega and the Galactic Commonwealth! Loved those guys.
 
I enjoyed Star Trek: Prometheus and would’ve liked to see more of it.

Plus, I was waiting for a story where the Federation actively ecosculpts the Borg-ravaged worlds and tries to preserve civilisations on the edge of extinction.
 
The mirror universe and the First Splinter are closely connected, and the MU definitely ended in Coda too. Or at least the LitVerse version of it.

Or at least most of the 24th century portion.

I too would have loved more Articles of the Federation type stories.

And I never felt like the promise we were made by the ending of Full Circle was paid off, in that Voyager should have came to the vast swath of space, dozens of times larger than the Federation, that had been all Borg, and found it now completely devoid of civilization. How do the neighboring societies react in that situation, especially after previously having the Borg at their doorstep.

I also thought it obvious that eventually Voyager should return to the area they travelled through for the first three years of the show, and explore those races more, especially the Kazon.

There’s probably tons more I could say. It’s still just a real shame it had to end, and also that even with a prose only series that ideally should have been able to do whatever it wanted without budgetary or actor constraints, real world issues plagued the creative forces and hampered the storytelling that otherwise might have been possible. From Marco Palmieri’s firing, to the Kelvin-verse contractual issues, to ever increasing shrinkage of the novel output, to the loss of KRAD, to contract renegotiation issues. These all kept the Litverse from continuing the heights it reached during its’ amazing heyday of 2000-2012.
 
I love how niche the Andorian Transporter Clone meme is. Possibly localized all within this forum. I feel like any novel about it wouldn't have done justice to how diligent we've been about keeping that thread alive.

I was hoping for some adventures between the Data and Moriarty families. Something like they could solve sci-fi mysteries together and occasionally appear in other novels as a mystery solving android duo.

I really wanted Titan to return to its original format, just with Vale as captain but the litverse did its thing. Seems like every time a captain has the change of heart to want to actually explore space something high concept happens and that captain never gets to do the thing. I really enjoyed Riker as a regular Starfleet captain wanting to do what Starfleet captains are famous for. I wanted to see Vaughn do that stuff, and for the love of god I was desperate to see Sisko do it! Call me old fashioned. I was so excited for the new Gamma DS9 book(!) and was hoping for much more. That clearly did not happen.

And I was also waiting for DS9 to get good again. Just... like, in general.
 
I love how niche the Andorian Transporter Clone meme is. Possibly localized all within this forum. I feel like any novel about it wouldn't have done justice to how diligent we've been about keeping that thread alive.
Why do I find myself thinking about the Sherlock Holmes SS, "The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire," and its reference to "the giant rat of Sumatra, a story for which the world is not yet prepared."
 
I would have loved to see more Articles of the Federation-type stories about either Bacco or zh'Tarash.

More Cardassia novels from Una McCormack. (Maybe one that ends with Cardassia joining the Federation.)

More tales of Memory Omega and the Galactic Commonwealth! Loved those guys.

An Una McCormack novel tackling Cardassia reacting to the death of Alon Ghemor is something at the top of my list - also getting a chance to check in with the O'Briens in the "gap time" between Soul Key and the Typhon Pact.

I also was deeply annoyed with the consolidation of the Romulan Empire and Imperial Romulan State when it hadn't even really gotten any play, so a novel featuring them as separate powers would have been appreciated. It's like... why did we even GET this distinction if it was going to be so casually swept away anyway? (And yeah, some of that was probably due to authorial and editorial differences and all, but I stand by it being a complaint all the same.)
 
Having been winding my way through the tail of the novelverse towards Coda, I’m wondering if the extensive use of the Breen would/could have been built up to an event story of the same variety of The Fall or the like (maybe instead of Coda had canon not mandated the wrap-up?) about the Breen efforts leading to a major flashpoint.

At this point, I kinda feel like such a story would conclude with the other Typhon Pact expelling the Breen from the Pact to prevent war with the Khitomer Powers, and it’d have been interesting to see play out.

Honestly, overall, as interesting as the Pact is in theory, I don’t think it really got utilized to the fullest potential, mostly because so much time was spend showing them either scheming against the Federation or one another, often more in isolation than as a unified whole, not really seeing their efforts at unity, as the reflection of the Federation they were kinda hyped as.

I mean, I for one liked the Pact and wanted it to maintain and continue, not be broken apart, and yet much of the Pact focus feels like it was more about how they squabble with one another, fighting to lead by way of ruling the others, rather than the cooperation that it seemed like the Pact was formed to foster.
 
Honestly, overall, as interesting as the Pact is in theory, I don’t think it really got utilized to the fullest potential, mostly because so much time was spend showing them either scheming against the Federation or one another, often more in isolation than as a unified whole, not really seeing their efforts at unity, as the reflection of the Federation they were kinda hyped as.

I mean, I for one liked the Pact and wanted it to maintain and continue, not be broken apart, and yet much of the Pact focus feels like it was more about how they squabble with one another, fighting to lead by way of ruling the others, rather than the cooperation that it seemed like the Pact was formed to foster.

The idea was to explore the turbulent early days of such an alliance as it felt its way through learning to cooperate, and as it was torn between the rival philosophies of those who just wanted to exploit it for their own ends vs. those who genuinely saw the value of cooperation. But that's a long-haul kind of story arc, and it got cut short.
 
Having been winding my way through the tail of the novelverse towards Coda, I’m wondering if the extensive use of the Breen would/could have been built up to an event story of the same variety of The Fall or the like (maybe instead of Coda had canon not mandated the wrap-up?) about the Breen efforts leading to a major flashpoint.

At this point, I kinda feel like such a story would conclude with the other Typhon Pact expelling the Breen from the Pact to prevent war with the Khitomer Powers, and it’d have been interesting to see play out.

Honestly, overall, as interesting as the Pact is in theory, I don’t think it really got utilized to the fullest potential, mostly because so much time was spend showing them either scheming against the Federation or one another, often more in isolation than as a unified whole, not really seeing their efforts at unity, as the reflection of the Federation they were kinda hyped as.

I mean, I for one liked the Pact and wanted it to maintain and continue, not be broken apart, and yet much of the Pact focus feels like it was more about how they squabble with one another, fighting to lead by way of ruling the others, rather than the cooperation that it seemed like the Pact was formed to foster.

The idea was to explore the turbulent early days of such an alliance as it felt its way through learning to cooperate, and as it was torn between the rival philosophies of those who just wanted to exploit it for their own ends vs. those who genuinely saw the value of cooperation. But that's a long-haul kind of story arc, and it got cut short.

I wish we could have seen more of what Christopher is talking about. I am also quite happy we had a few novels going deeper into the cultures of the Breen and Tzenkethi, because both often felt like moustache twirling baddies seeking triumph over the ever corrupt Federation. It made it so much more interesting to see how from their worldviews, the Federation is something to be absolutely shunned and despised. Without that extra layer, they would just come across as evil for the sake if evil. Same goes for the Gorn.
Or how the Romulans were shown to be a culture build to distrust everything and everyone, considering the founding of their society was schism between them and their own kind. "If we can't trust them, how can we ever trust anyone?"

I know that what I am saying is all very simplified. But I'm just so happy that the novels gave so much depth and character to alien species that the shows themselves never really went very deep in.

So, kudos and thanks to all the wonderful writers that frequent this forum for really bringing all these species and cultures to life in such an amazing way.
 
If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

Sign up / Register


Back
Top