To Aventine or NOT to Aventine?

[Ktrek]

I have read that Margaret Clark has said that an Aventine book (and possible series) is planned for 2010. Now I don't know about anyone else but I have read the Destiny series and although I enjoyed it the least enjoyable part to me was Ezri Dax and the Aventine. I have been a long long time collector of Star Trek books. I love them and I have enjoyed several of the book only series (Vanguard, Titan, New Frontier) but this is getting out of control in my opinion. To add another series onto the schedule means one, possibly two, more slots taken away from TOS, TNG, DS9, VOY and ENT. This to me is unacceptable.

I think we already have enough stand alone series that we really do not need another. Not at the cost of slots for fan favorites. So my plea goes to Margaret to reconsider this decision. Yes we have been supportive of the stand alone series up till now but it does not mean that we are willing to let more slots of main Star Trek lines be sacrificed. Enough is enough. It's already getting too hard to keep up with the cast of characters we already have. Give us a break!

Kevin

PS. I will be writing Simon and Schuster a personal letter about this too and other proposed directions they want to take.

 

[8of5]

I'm looking forward to Aventine books. Just think of them as DS9 books...

 

[DeVario]

I enjoyed reading about Captain Dax and her crew, and I look forward to the Aventine novel(s). I do understand Ktrek's concern, though.

 

[Sci]

I, on the other hand, am interested.

I'm not too worried about the "loss" of slots that haven't even been scheduled yet.

 

[Thrawn]

Well, the thing is, there have over the last few years been a lot of random books that aren't a part of either an ongoing series or a main Star Trek line, like Lost Era and Terok Nor and Articles and Myriad Universes, etc etc etc, and there are almost none of those except A Singular Destiny over the next year. We're getting a ton more "main" Trek-line stories this year than we've gotten over the past couple of years.

I think KRAD had a list at some point of the proportions of Trek books released over the past few years, and I'm pretty sure almost a quarter were books that didn't fit into any particular ongoing series / crossovers / standalones / etc. And if that didn't bother you, I fail to see how one Aventine novel will.

Not to mention that many minor series - New Frontier, Klingon Empire, even Titan for a while - have had large gaps in their publishing schedule anyway. I think that they've done a fine job balancing the amount of interest the community has in any particular line with the frequency that line is published; the only exception, for me, has been the DS9-relaunch, which really needed a couple more books over the past couple years to keep up momentum, I think.

But I see no reason that the same balance that's worked so well would fail just because of one extra, rarely-published series. People were saying the same thing when Vanguard started, and that's turned out to be one of the crowning achievements of Treklit. They won't publish a whole new series unless it has stories worth being told.

 

[LightningStorm]

I think KRAD had a list at some point of the proportions of Trek books released over the past few years, and I'm pretty sure almost a quarter were books that didn't fit into any particular ongoing series / crossovers / standalones / etc. And if that didn't bother you, I fail to see how one Aventine novel will.

http://www.trekbbs.com/showthread.php?p=2236995#post2236995

 

[Thrawn]

I think KRAD had a list at some point of the proportions of Trek books released over the past few years, and I'm pretty sure almost a quarter were books that didn't fit into any particular ongoing series / crossovers / standalones / etc. And if that didn't bother you, I fail to see how one Aventine novel will.

http://www.trekbbs.com/showthread.php?p=2236995#post2236995

Thank you!

If you look at that list, Ktrek, you'll notice that in fact more classic Trek and TNG books have been published, and a few of the side-projects have decreased in percentage. It seems like the publishing line might be moving towards what you want.

 

[Ktrek]

If the Aventine was so extremely interesting and extraordinary I might agree with you Thrawn but trying to keep up with existing series main and secondary characters is already a chore and one now that pretty much require access to Memory Beta just to keep up. It never used to be that way. I would much rather Pocket use the slot to advance the Titan, Gorkon, or Vanguard lines, or even the DS9-R than start another series. Or even give us another Excelsior story. You can't tell me that there are Star Trek stories that can ONLY be told via Aventine and it's crew! Any Star Trek story worth it's weight could be re-worked around any of the already existing lines without sacrificing the story. I just think the pendulum is swinging too far the other way. Why make an already complicated universe even more complicated?

Kevin

 

[Thrawn]

Well I haven't read Destiny yet, but I can tell you I certainly look forward to almost every one of the original lines more than the show-based ones, so having another doesn't inherently seem like a bad idea to me. And a couple people in this thread already have said that they quite like the Aventine crew.

From the opposite perspective then, this ship featured prominently in a crossover series, and was well received by fans. Why not give it a book or two, to see how it sells on its own?

I do see your point about complexity; I personally keep a document where I write summaries and reminders of the story of each book when I finish it, so I can refer to it the next time a book in that series comes out. But I actually do that for non-Trek books too, so I still don't really see why this is all that big a deal. The only difference, it seems to me, with the TV-based lines is that you have a mental image of those characters already so you don't really have to try to keep the characters straight. And I'm really ok with Trek moving into more ambitious waters (for writers AND readers) than that.

 

[nx1701g]

You can't tell me that there are Star Trek stories that can ONLY be told via Aventine and it's crew!

Spoiler: But there are (Spoilered for Destiny)

The Aventine has a Slipstream Drive which, so far, hasn't been granted to any other starship but members of this class. Aventine could push exploration further into unaccessed areas of the Gamma Quadrant or visit the areas were Voyager left off (technically they do have a Federation Outpost out there where the Talaxians are located).

 

[DGCatAniSiri]

I think it's wrong to classify any proposed Aventine novels as taking away slots from books that haven't even been written, let alone scheduled. And, additionally, at the moment, it's just one novel and a possible series. Emphasis on 'possible.' And, like it's been mentioned, a balanced approach between all series is attempted - just because it's heavy on one series at one point in time doesn't mean that the others are being short-changed, just that they're not in the spotlight at this moment, but they'll get their turn.

Furthermore, I enjoyed the Ezri and Aventine sections of Destiny. I'd definitely be interested in reading more about what they're up to.

 

[captcalhoun]

i personally am intrigued by having an Aventine novel.

on the other hand, i think your attitude reeks of self-importance.

 

[Thrawn]

Oh, and another reason your argument is wrong, Ktrek - this year, the publishing schedule was getting a bit crowded, lots of commissioned novels. What did our fantastic editors do? They moved the Romulan War 2-book series to a single trade paperback, thus freeing up 2 more paperback slots for other books.

Similarly with the SCE / COE reprints a while back.

Too many books to publish in a year? Not a problem.

And finally, I'm certain - CERTAIN - that given the amount to which the average obsessive Star Trek fan cares about every aspect of this universe, that every single time they make an announcement about a change/new project/new novel/whatever, someone writes a letter to S&S telling them why they're killing the franchise. In an interview with David Mack I read earlier, I read that someone apparently told him Vanguard went against everything the Trek franchise stood for. The fact that I disagree is immaterial; what I mean is, it sure didn't stop them from publishing it.

The difference between the number of people that write letters or even post here and the total number of people that buy these books is HUGE. One fan's heartfelt anything isn't going to change their minds about diddly squat. Sales numbers and overall trends are what they look at, as well as their personal convictions that whatever they're selling is a good product.

As for trends? You're the only person so far in this thread, at least, that seems to mind. And as for the editors' personal convictions? Well, based on the rather amazing last few years? Even with my favorite editor recently departed, I'm rather inclined to trust their judgment over yours.

 

[Claudia]

Honestly, I understand and share Ktrek's concerns. I'd rather they advance the DS9-R-plot so far as to get up in the timeline to the Destiny-trilogy. Show first how Dax got command of the Aventine - and *then*, think about launching another spin-off. Or rather, get every series up in the timeline to post-Destiny age (save of course for TOS and ENT), because IMO it gets rather confusing trying to figure out when a particular story is set - not to mention that a story that puts e.g. Chakotay or Paris in danger would be rather obsolete, knowing that both survive till Destiny...

Dax's plot was by far the weakest in the Destiny-trilogy IMO. It was *her* attitude in Destiny, particularly #3, that reeked of self-importance... And just a cool new ship-feature doesn't warrant a whole new series of books - because enter Q (or whatever other space phenomenon), fling ship xy in far out regions and you have the same setting. (As we had in TV before... so the idea wouldn't be new).

Personally, I have only 4 or 5 books (post Destiny, Troublesome Minds) I'm looking forward to this year, as I don't read Vanguard, ENT and VOY... so the schedule *for me* already is quite thin...

 

[Thrawn]

Ok, well, as of the publication of Full Circle in April, everything WILL be up to the Destiny trilogy, with the single solitary exception of Deep Space Nine, which is, like it or not, 4 years behind. Catching up that amount of time would take a great many books, especially with the amount of planning that's gone into that story arc.

But as far as Chakotay and Paris being in danger, or whatever? Full Circle fixes that, and we still don't know about the grand majority of the DS9-R characters and how much danger they'll be in.

And finally, the DS9-R will continue to be published along with everything else. They are not mutually exclusive! And, in FACT, the reason that we haven't heard much from the DS9-R lately is because the originally contracted author of Fearful Symmetry either didn't cut it or left the project, and another author had to be found. Marco took a long time finding the right person and letting them do a good job with the novel, because quality was more important than speed. So, sure, it's a shame we haven't had a lot of DS9-R for a while, but that was directly a result of the editors wanting to do it RIGHT instead of doing it fast. And you need a lot of time between books in a series for that kind of attention to detail to work...and for that long a period of time between books, you need lots of other series to fill the space. Realistically, I think one book per franchise per year, at least the ones with ongoing stories, is about as fast as they can reasonably put them out and still keep the quality they want.

Which is, on average, exactly how often they are - and will continue - putting them out.

I really, really hate this argument that the Trek universe is getting too crowded .

 

[Claudia]

I really, really hate this argument that the Trek universe is getting too crowded .

I'm not saying that - I'm just saying that most of the things that new series are created for could be shown with older series. New characters don't necessarily imply new ideas for stories.

Why another ship-based series? Why not create a planet-based series for example? I'd say the post-Destiny universe features quite a few known planets that offer interesting stories.

 

[Thrawn]

I really, really hate this argument that the Trek universe is getting too crowded .

I'm not saying that - I'm just saying that most of the things that new series are created for could be shown with older series. New characters don't necessarily imply new ideas for stories.

Why another ship-based series? Why not create a planet-based series for example? I'd say the post-Destiny universe features quite a few known planets that offer interesting stories.

Sure, and anything Titan did could've been shown in the TNG-R, too. But then we wouldn't have had a hilarious, deadpan doctor that looked like a dinosaur and ate raw meat.

My point is that new characters *ARE* new stories. The per-novel gimmick is hardly what's ever mattered.

And that even if these ideas could be done in the old series, there is inherent value in spacing out entries in any particular series far enough apart that you have breathing room in planning them.

 

[Claudia]

My point is that new characters *ARE* new stories.

I'm also not denying that. But perhaps the creators here should first look at what older characters don't work anymore, before inventing a whole new series instead of just replacing one character.

But then again, Titan is a bad example since Riker's command was announced in Nemesis (therefore in canon) - and not following up on that in TrekLit would have been rather strange...

 

[JAG]

I am looking forward to an Aventine book.

 

[Baerbel Haddrell]

I very much welcome more Aventine books. To me they are part of DS9 Relaunch anyway.

Also, we shouldn`t forget that some series come and go like Challenger and Stargazer. If Aventine books sell well, there will be more of them. If not, new ideas will be tried out.

For example, Sonek Pran from the coming “A Singular Destiny” sounds very promising indeed and although it is planned as a one-shot, who says that plans can`t change if the book is very successful?

I enjoy this rich variety of books we have nowadays very much. What are “fan favourites”? Me personally, I am not looking forward to most of the coming TOS books and will use that opportunity to catch up with books that were left behind due to lack of time.