Question About Future Shatnerverse Novels?
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It's a beautiful numbered slipcase edition, with a special "To Majel" dedication page, and personally signed by Roddenberry.
Ah, my friend has one and thought the same thing! You're supposed to read it as "This is 1 copy of 500." When they were setting up the type, they were probably expecting someone to hand number them from #1-500. I'm betting Majel received the actual first copy.
That's not really how most signed/limited editions are done; typically, it says "this is copy XX of NN," with XX being written in hand, usually by the signers. Roddenberry may have been unfamiliar with that convention, and called them all #1.
The limitation page is printed with the phrase "This is copy___" The "1" IS handwritten. Apparently all 500 LE copies are #1. Thanks for clearing that up!
I wonder if Roddenberry even signed them. It looks like his signature -- I have another book with his autograph -- but heaven knows who actually set pen to paper back in 1980...
hellsgate
Commodore
If you're concerned about the Shatnerverse, why not e-mail Pocket Books and ask them directly about it, via Customer Service? Or, why not begin enjoying Shatner's work by writing something of your own in the same universe, to be submitted upon Pocket's decision to resume publishing their "Strange New Worlds" anthology? Unfortunately for me, I'm a Canadian, so I'm not qualified for potential publication according to the (United States citizens only,) rules.
AFAIK, the SNW anthologies were also explicitly limited to stories that referred to onscreen elements only. That is, they could take individual flights of fancy, but couldn't require knowledge of novels.
And either way, a SNW return seems exceedingly unlikely at the moment.
And either way, a SNW return seems exceedingly unlikely at the moment.
Yeah - he signed them, according to Susan Sackett. He was very proud of that limited edition slipcase, and there were only 500.
He was actually a generous autographer, usually personalizing if asked. One particular quirk: he used to perpetuate, deliberately, a once-accidental error. Many GR autographs from the early 80s read, "Long live and prosper", not "Live long and prosper".
I was devastated when he signed mine with the error, wondering if he was tired or dyslexic, but it was just GR being... quirky.
Two problems with that: SNW isn't coming back any time soon, and Canadians outside of Quebec were in fact allowed to participate. Quebec was excluded because of provincial laws that would have required Pocket to run the contest in English and French.
With the exception of citizens of Quebec, Canadians were eligible to enter the SNW contests. Jeff De Jacques (known as Worf2DS9 around these parts) is one contestant I know off the top of my head, who won the contest three times.
Well, yes and no. There actually were a couple of SNW stories that were consistent with and influenced by the book continuity without being explicitly dependent on them. They had to focus on canonical characters, but they could be compatible with ideas and continuity from the novels, as long as it wasn't blatant. For instance, the Flint story "The Immortality Blues" built on the 21st-century history established in The Lost Era: The Sundered. The DS9 story "Gumbo" implicitly foreshadowed Jake Sisko's actions in Avatar. And the DS9 story "Shadowed Allies" borrowed some ideas from the post-finale DS9 novels, though it wasn't 100% consistent with them.
However, SNW is dead and gone. It was a money-losing proposition and it's amazing it lasted as long as it did.
You're right. In the future, rather than attempting to be helpful, I'll just mock any post which does not slavishly conform to the thread topic.
Should I start with yours?
You're right. In the future, rather than attempting to be helpful, I'll just mock any post which does not slavishly conform to the thread topic.
Should I start with yours?
I think that Mister Ward was doing something that is more commonly known as taking the piss - and not in a nasty way, just a general down the pub with your mates kind of piss take
^ With rare exceptions, you can pretty much always count on me to be laughing with you, not at you.
Unless you want Janeway resurrected.
(There I go again!)
Unless you want Janeway resurrected.
(There I go again!
)
)
Any chance the Shatnerverse could ever be brought into continuity with the main book line?
I would actually like a Next Gen novel with Kirk, as a example, but I'm never sure if Kirk's resurrection is canon outside Shatner's books.
I would actually like a Next Gen novel with Kirk, as a example, but I'm never sure if Kirk's resurrection is canon outside Shatner's books.
Well, that 'canon' term doesn't really apply.
But outside of that, I sincerely hope not. Captain's Glory is riddled with contradictions to some of the other present novels. And that aside, I find everything from the characterizations to the actual plots to be so self-indulgent that they actually annoy me. I'm quite happy with the present arrangement - leave them as they are so the Shatnerverse fans can enjoy them, but where the rest of us are perfectly free to keep on pretending that they don't exist.
But outside of that, I sincerely hope not. Captain's Glory is riddled with contradictions to some of the other present novels. And that aside, I find everything from the characterizations to the actual plots to be so self-indulgent that they actually annoy me. I'm quite happy with the present arrangement - leave them as they are so the Shatnerverse fans can enjoy them, but where the rest of us are perfectly free to keep on pretending that they don't exist.
There are too many inconsistencies between them, including the date of Bajor's admission to the Federation, the nature of Titan's mission in its first year of operation, the fate of Kathryn Janeway, and the history of the Mirror Universe. Some of the Shatner/Reeves-Stevens novels have incorporated ideas and characters from the other novels -- for instance, some of the Titan novel characters show up in the last book of the Totality trilogy -- but the inconsistencies remain.
Sounds like a job for Schuster and Mollmann!
No more hardbacks? Even for Shatner's Trek? That's gonna look out of place next to my other Shatner Trek Novels. I love me Hardback books. I hope they go for a second Academy Book. I don't think they need to wait for the dust to settle because there is no way to tie it into the next Movie.
I also think it's a mistake to tie Shatner's novels into other Trek books and the same goes for the other way round too. When I was reading "Captain's Glory" there was a point where Picard thinks he is about to die and he thinks of Beverly in his last moments. I thought it was a bit of a WTF moment that didn't make sense until I found out they have a relationship in other books.
I also think it's a mistake to tie Shatner's novels into other Trek books and the same goes for the other way round too. When I was reading "Captain's Glory" there was a point where Picard thinks he is about to die and he thinks of Beverly in his last moments. I thought it was a bit of a WTF moment that didn't make sense until I found out they have a relationship in other books.
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