Well, there is
the trouble the Even Odds is in that Taran'atar decides to help out with.
Let's talk about this DS9 5-year time jump for a second.
- Thread starter Thrawn
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Well, there is
Damnit! I can't click on those because I'm still reading The Soul Key! 
Well, unless Shar ends up being like a kid that takes a gap year during college, but just never gets around to going back.
Didn't one of the authors or publishers say that DS9 would not be brought in line with the other "current" trek series, because it was doing so well on its own?
marco did. but things changed. do try to keep up, old chap.
That was the policy of the post-finale DS9 series' original editor, Marco Palmieri, who was laid off in December due to budget cuts at Simon & Schuster. Margaret Clark, who took over as editor of the series, decided that, in the context of the post-Destiny novels, it no longer made sense to leave DS9 in the past and have to exclude its characters from the big, quadrant-sweeping events that are going on in the books these days.
Oh Marco said that? Well, that clears up everything 
Trek authors: Is there any particular reason why some series move faster than others? Is it that it is just so much easier to say "a few months later" and start another story? Was DS9 considered slow?
I've only just gotten around to reading DS9R (in order, as per Voyages of Imagination), and I'm halfway though Mission: Gamma, and I'm so pleased the books are not rushing through the years. There is so much potential story for such small periods of time...
Trek authors: Is there any particular reason why some series move faster than others? Is it that it is just so much easier to say "a few months later" and start another story? Was DS9 considered slow?
I've only just gotten around to reading DS9R (in order, as per Voyages of Imagination), and I'm halfway though Mission: Gamma, and I'm so pleased the books are not rushing through the years. There is so much potential story for such small periods of time...
"Particular?" As in singular? No. A given series develops at whatever pace its editor and authors decide is appropriate for its storytelling. And that can vary from point to point within a series. DS9R had books that advanced gradually forward, books that jumped farther forward and were even out of sequence (Worlds of DS9), a single book overlapping months' worth of earlier books (Rising Son), and so on. Titan had three novels that took place in fairly quick succession, then had a 3-month gap, then had an 8-month gap, and then had a book with a prologue spanning several months before getting into the main story. Vanguard's first three books cover just a few months altogether, but the fourth covers an entire year. It's simply a matter of what the story calls for at any given time.
I think it's fine for the DS9R to jump forward five years to be in line with the post-destiny time frame, but only as long as those intervening years are not glossed over. Due to the heavily-serialised aspect of DS9 both on screen and on page, the stories tend to be better told in small periods of time.
Not to disrespect Christie Golden, and I seriously mean that, but her post-finale Voyager books were not the best and it made sense for the post-finale series to be pushed forward. But there was material there to push it forward and the gap was only two years. With the DS9R we have no material to use between '77 and '80 and then the Borg/Destiny stuff up to '82. Since very few people want to see another Borg novel, this is leaves very little established to work with unless we have a long drawn-out Ascendant conflict, which doesn't jibe with the rest of the DS9R.
If we were to have a fork in the road for the DS9R, with half the books--or a trilogy or miniseries--charting those missing five years while the other half concentrate on the post-Destiny time frame, that's fine. I just don't want to see the New Frontier route where we jumped ahead three years and were told that they would be covered, only to find that thus far they haven't been. The DS9R is my favourite series, even after the twists and turns it's taken into the MU, but I don't want it to lose that top spot just because one editor decides that her predecessor's plan just won't work after what she's done with the rest of the universe (no offence intended to Margaret, I loved the Destiny arc) and then when she is unfairly ousted (regardless of the current state of the economy, but that's a whole 'nother story) will the next person to fill her shoes continue with the jump or stay with the past, or a mixture of the two?
I can't help but think if Marco was still there, he would have found a way to bridge the gap, but as I'm sure Christopher or David or someone will no doubt correct me if I'm wrong (as I usually am on these things), Marco may well have gone along with Margaret and we'd still be in this same position.
Here's to the future of the DS9R, whatever it may bring.
I'll be here until the very end.
Not to disrespect Christie Golden, and I seriously mean that, but her post-finale Voyager books were not the best and it made sense for the post-finale series to be pushed forward. But there was material there to push it forward and the gap was only two years. With the DS9R we have no material to use between '77 and '80 and then the Borg/Destiny stuff up to '82. Since very few people want to see another Borg novel, this is leaves very little established to work with unless we have a long drawn-out Ascendant conflict, which doesn't jibe with the rest of the DS9R.
If we were to have a fork in the road for the DS9R, with half the books--or a trilogy or miniseries--charting those missing five years while the other half concentrate on the post-Destiny time frame, that's fine. I just don't want to see the New Frontier route where we jumped ahead three years and were told that they would be covered, only to find that thus far they haven't been. The DS9R is my favourite series, even after the twists and turns it's taken into the MU, but I don't want it to lose that top spot just because one editor decides that her predecessor's plan just won't work after what she's done with the rest of the universe (no offence intended to Margaret, I loved the Destiny arc) and then when she is unfairly ousted (regardless of the current state of the economy, but that's a whole 'nother story) will the next person to fill her shoes continue with the jump or stay with the past, or a mixture of the two?
I can't help but think if Marco was still there, he would have found a way to bridge the gap, but as I'm sure Christopher or David or someone will no doubt correct me if I'm wrong (as I usually am on these things), Marco may well have gone along with Margaret and we'd still be in this same position.
Here's to the future of the DS9R, whatever it may bring.
I'll be here until the very end.
When have the ST authors not taken advantage of storytelling windows?
PAD's reasoning was that he felt he had exhausted most of the previously-unexplored backstories of his main characters and wanted a period of more recent mystery so he could bring up some new surprises in the characters' backstories. Not that everything in the gap "would be covered".
A good example of his previous mining of such windows is the Calhoun/Shelby honeymoon. The characters dropped numerous hints, in several books, before we finally got the real story. Similarly, hints were dropped about the tragic Grissom incident in Calhoun's past, and we eventually got the amazing "Once Burned".
Be patient!
You make it sound like there's a ban on pitching such stories!
There is for first time authors, but I have a feeling that Margaret had a plan. I doubt the jump would have been approved by Paula et al without some kind of infodump about the intervening years, even if it was just a few words here and there about what we could generally expect.
Not sure what you mean. DS9 is primarily a character-driven series, and with its large ensemble cast there'd surely be plenty of material to explore in any period.
Destiny was as much Marco's project as Margaret's. They co-edited it. And the Typhon Pact arc was, I'm pretty sure, a joint creation of Marco, Margaret, and KRAD. If Marco had stayed, he'd probably be editing at least part of next year's Typhon Pact miniseries.
Whether he would've made the same choice regarding DS9, we'll never know, but the changes that prompted Margaret's decision to jump the series forward were changes that Marco played a key role in setting into motion.
Knew I'd get corrected, and knew it would be you.
I know DS9 is character-driven, but the overall arc needs to come from somewhere.
The Voyager duologies came from nowhere, it would seem, and did we get an end to "Andrew" or is he still making trouble? It seemed like nothing was resolved there but it's been a while I read those books.
Now that the MU is done, and the Ascendants are ramping up, what do the crew do next? It almost seems as if they have been left in limbo so they can be moved five years forward without any changes, like ENT's TATV *shudder*
We still have Shar's story to tell; filling in a little more of Ro's history after leaving the Enterprise might be interesting; perhaps a little more on the infant Avatar? What did the rest of Ohalu's book of secular prophecy say would happen? Even Vaughn's past would fill a good few books; and of course charting Ezri's rise to captain's chair of the Aventine and who replaced her as counsellor on DS9 if there was one. After all, when Jadzia was killed the plot called more for a counsellor than a science officer, but that was filled by Shar in the books.
I know DS9 is character-driven, but the overall arc needs to come from somewhere.
The Voyager duologies came from nowhere, it would seem, and did we get an end to "Andrew" or is he still making trouble? It seemed like nothing was resolved there but it's been a while I read those books.
Now that the MU is done, and the Ascendants are ramping up, what do the crew do next? It almost seems as if they have been left in limbo so they can be moved five years forward without any changes, like ENT's TATV *shudder*
We still have Shar's story to tell; filling in a little more of Ro's history after leaving the Enterprise might be interesting; perhaps a little more on the infant Avatar? What did the rest of Ohalu's book of secular prophecy say would happen? Even Vaughn's past would fill a good few books; and of course charting Ezri's rise to captain's chair of the Aventine and who replaced her as counsellor on DS9 if there was one. After all, when Jadzia was killed the plot called more for a counsellor than a science officer, but that was filled by Shar in the books.
Would-be first-time Star Trek authors trying to crack a chance to do a ST manuscript, by following the online guidelines, can't pitch a proposal outside of any of the TV series eras, but that's a policy that's been in place for what, decades? Established authors can pitch whatever they're game to pitch, and can defend in clever ways!
Nowhere?
The first post-series duology was highlighted (and later greatly expanded) in a section at the back of the "Endgame" novelization. So it was commissioned to give fans a feeling of anticipation that VOY still had a future after its return to the Alpha Quadrant, because it would be some time before the actual duology could materialize.
Well, there's really no reason that stuff can't be covered after the jump.
Wouldnt there be a good possibility that Laas is dead? Sure he might have found a cure on his own, or made it back to the link after the disease was dealt with, but connecting the dots, he was able to link with an infected Odo....then he left to find other of The Hundred that might be living in ignorance like he had been.
Personally, DS9 could do no wrong in my eyes, and this change is minor compared to other decisions in Star Trek storytelling
(i.e. Christie Golden, killing of Selar, Janeway, Duffy)
DRGIII will make us not even notice the blank time frame, there is faith from this niner.
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thanks for the spoiler, you swine!
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