Summer nuTrek novels pulled-TrekMovie.Com

[Piper]

From the outside, this situation seems wholly avoidable. The only reason one can see for it is that Paramount and/or the PTB have asked for the books to be pulled. If that was the case, why this possibility wasn't raised far earlier is beyond me.

Doctor Who novels, on the other hand, have to be cleared in outline form from Cardiff before the authors sit down to write the things, to make sure they don't clash with upcoming stories (although admittedly recently one project, a graphic novel, was pulled very late in the day in circumstances not dissimilar.) Even with the editorial changes at Pocket, it's extremely unfair to the four authors that people didn't talk to each other far earlier on in the process.

 

[snakespeare]

I like the way the article ends, on a note of hope:

Orci and Kurrtzman (sic) have yet to start penning the script for the Star Trek sequel, which was recently put on Paramount’s release schedule for June 29, 2012. The screenplay should be done by this summer. Hopefully after that is complete, they can work with Pocket Books on either tie-ins or stand alone novels tied into the new movie universe.

 

[Lonemagpie]

I'd be surprised if Pocket would be able to move things around fast enough to fill in the gap. I mean the 2nd Typhon Pact novel is set for November and I believe David Mack is still writing it. I'll be the first to admit I know squat about the publishing business but I'm guessing maybe, possibly, one, and if we're amazingly lucky, two, of those 4 spots are filled this year but I would tend to doubt that, what with the reduction in editing staff. I hope I'm wrong but I think we're looking at a dry summer...

Maybe the Crucible omnibus will return to the schedule (naturally, since I actually went and got the separate volumes when it was canned...)

 

[Paris]

This is rough news . I was really looking forward to these books. Hopefully we can get another SCE collection in one of the empty slots, and maybe a typhon pact book earlier. Wouldn't it be sweet if Pocket commissioned KRAD to do another Typhon Pact book, but had it concentrate on the Klingons and the Kishaya? It's nice to dream...

 

[Sxottlan]

Huh. With just three months before the first one was to hit shelves, what the flock are they going to fill the gap with?

 

[Turbo]

I'd be surprised if Pocket would be able to move things around fast enough to fill in the gap. I mean the 2nd Typhon Pact novel is set for November and I believe David Mack is still writing it. I'll be the first to admit I know squat about the publishing business but I'm guessing maybe, possibly, one, and if we're amazingly lucky, two, of those 4 spots are filled this year but I would tend to doubt that, what with the reduction in editing staff. I hope I'm wrong but I think we're looking at a dry summer...

Maybe the Crucible omnibus will return to the schedule (naturally, since I actually went and got the separate volumes when it was canned...)

Or possibly a Slings and Arrows omnibus?

 

[Agenda]

Too bad for the authors, but I think it's a damn good move from a continuity standpoint.

 

[JD]

This really sucks, both for the readers and the authors. As for filling the gaps, would there even be time for something like an SCE or Slings and Arrows omnibus. As for a novel, based on what we hear from the writers around here, I have a feeling that if they moved one or more up, then we'd still have an empty month later in the year.

 

[Agenda]

Huh. Pardon my French, but with just three months before the first one was to hit shelves, what the **** are they going to fill the gap with?

I dunno. But if you're looking for more reading, go try some fan fiction. There actually is some good stuff out there, if you look for it...professional quality.

 

[JD]

I think he meant Pocket Books.

 

[Therin of Andor]

If you think back to Pocket's early days, ST:TMP came out and there was a novelization. Then, the next original novel, "The Entropy Effect" by Vonda McInyre, had to go on a looooong hiatus while Bantam Books released several more contracted TOS 5YM novels they had waiting in the wings.

When "The Entropy Effect" finally came out, it had a TMP-inspired cover, but its storyline was firmly set in the 5YM. That surprised many fans, who were expecting a TMP sequel. Although a few original Pockets in the next few years did explore the post-TMP era a little, many others used only TMP- and ST II-inspired uniforms to be the only movie tie-in.

There were also minor problems for the extra material McIntryre added to her ST II and ST III novelisations, ie. regarding what was planned for Spock's coffin, and the growing Saavik/David relationship, because McIntyre had no way of knowing what direction ST III would take when writing ST II's novelization, or even if another film would happen. Nimoy's recasting of Saavik in ST III also seemed to dump any hints of the Romulan/Vulcan ancestry for Saavik, which had been explored so well in the ST II novelization.

So this problem is not unique or unexpected. DC Comics hit similar problems with their TNG comics.

Still frustrating, though.

 

[Dayton Ward]

The problem is that it's not as simple as just bumping everything up in the queue X months. Things are scheduled way out in advance for a reason, not the least of which is resources and personnel available to shepherd books through the rest of the development cycle, the writer(s) are likely still working on books farther out on the schedule and are doing so according to whatever schedules have already been agreed upon/contracted for, solicitation to bookstores, etc. and Trek is but one very thin slice of everything S&S does.

So far as the publishing biz goes, this isn't all that far removed from telling an aircraft carrier to make a U-turn because a sailor fell overboard. For something like this to be happening at this point in the process, something atypical must be going on somewhere.

(He says, guessing.)

 

[Therin of Andor]

This isn't all that far removed from telling an aircraft carrier to make a U-turn because a sailor fell overboard.

Four men overboard!

 

[Agenda]

It's definitely poor planning. I don't know what the heck they were thinking.

But the problem is that while it's easy to dismiss all the TOS, TNG, etc. novels as non-canon, because they are so many of them and because they conflict with the tv shows and movies, it wouldn't be so easy with these new alternate reality books.

The Powers That Be don't want to set things in stone for this new reality - or at least they want the next movie to do that and not the books - and I don't blame them.

 

[JAG]

Sorry to see that this happened. I was looking forward to them. I would love to see them put in a COE omnibus and maybe Slings and Arrows.

 

[Count Zero]

That sucks, quite frankly. I was looking forward to these books. It's also a bad move for Pocket Books, since not only can they not ride on the wake of the movie's popularity now but also they won't have enough time to fill the gaps with other Trek books. Some of us would have liked to get an ENT novel this year or a new Vanguard one.
Seems like a lot of bad planning and chaos on the part of Pocket Books/Simon & Schuster.

 

[Steve Roby]

Well, this sucks. It's hard to figure out why TPTB would decide to pull them now, too. The next movie isn't out until 2012. The way things go with blockbuster movies (especially those with breakout stars and busy producers), we'll be lucky to get three movies with the current bunch of people in front of and behind the cameras. That leaves a hell of a lot of room for stories to be told that won't step on the moviemakers' toes, unless they just decided to do something monumentally dumb, like having the next film bring back Vulcan and retcon all the changes made to the timeline...

 

[Agenda]

Well, this sucks. It's hard to figure out why TPTB would decide to pull them now, too. The next movie isn't out until 2012. The way things go with blockbuster movies (especially those with breakout stars and busy producers), we'll be lucky to get three movies with the current bunch of people in front of and behind the cameras. That leaves a hell of a lot of room for stories to be told that won't step on the moviemakers' toes, unless they just decided to do something monumentally dumb, like having the next film bring back Vulcan and retcon all the changes made to the timeline...

Possible Spoilers.

I've heard rumors that the next film may take place between the end of the Narada's destruction and the final scene in the film. So maybe they can't come out with any books because they would all be happening after the next sequel and possibly conflicting with it.

 

[Therin of Andor]

I've heard rumors...

 

[Paris]

^Where did you hear that? I thought they hadn't even written the script yet? That would be kind of weird, wouldn't it?