Latest blurbs and covers from the S&S online catalogue (spoilers)

[8of5]

Just found a bunch of stuff that's new to me on the Simon and Schuster online catalogue. I'm most excited about DTI: Watching the Clock, which if the blurb is accurate has a Temporal Col War connection

In a universe where history could be erased, two of the most disciplined, obsessive government employees face the existential uncertainty of it all.

In a universe where history could be wiped out at any moment by time warriors from the future, misused relics of ancient races, or accident-prone starships, unflappable Agents Lucsly and Dulmur are the Federation’s unsung anchors in a chaotic universe. But when a series of escalating temporal incursions threatens to open a new front of the history—spanning Temporal Cold War in the twenty-fourth century—Lucsly and Dulmur will need all their investigative skill and unbending determination to keep the present and the future from falling into the kind of chaos they really, really hate.

There's also a cover which I'm less excited about, it's pretty but plain.

Indistinguishable from Magic sounds like a getter too!

In this all-new original novel, the crew of the U.S.S. Challenger, Geordi LaForge, and Scotty find that the past is always very much of the present, and that, as the truism goes, anything sufficiently advanced is indistinguishable from magic.

The most talented Starfleet engineers of two generations unite to solve a 200-yearold technological mystery that turns out to be only the beginning of a wider quest. With the support of Guinan and Nog, as well as the crew of the U.S.S. Challenger, Geordi LaForge and Montgomery Scott soon find themselves drawn into a larger, deadlier, and far more personal adventure. Helped by old friends and hindered by old enemies, their investigation will come to threaten everything they hold dear.

Nice cover for the first Starfleet Academy book, even though it's just a filter on promo pics I rather like it. I really like the font (with it's twinkly stars and use of the delta), and find it interesting that they've elected not to brand it Star Trek.

And the latest from Cross Cult too, Demons of Air and Darkness:

 

[Lonemagpie]

They need to update my bio on that page- I don't write for NEO any more.

I was hoping the cover pic would appear first and leave people thinking they were seeing the Ent-D on it, but hey-ho.

 

[Saul]

DTI: Watching the Clock. Interesting, most interesting. I've been waiting for something like this.

 

[Christopher]

Just found a bunch of stuff that's new to me on the Simon and Schuster online catalogue. I'm most excited about DTI: Watching the Clock, which if the blurb is accurate has a Temporal Col War connection

In a universe where history could be erased, two of the most disciplined, obsessive government employees face the existential uncertainty of it all.

In a universe where history could be wiped out at any moment by time warriors from the future, misused relics of ancient races, or accident-prone starships, unflappable Agents Lucsly and Dulmur are the Federation’s unsung anchors in a chaotic universe. But when a series of escalating temporal incursions threatens to open a new front of the history—spanning Temporal Cold War in the twenty-fourth century—Lucsly and Dulmur will need all their investigative skill and unbending determination to keep the present and the future from falling into the kind of chaos they really, really hate.

There's also a cover which I'm less excited about, it's pretty but plain.

Hmm, it says "Cover is NOT final," so it's probably a placeholder. It's nothing like what Jaime and I discussed a few months back. Kinda pretty, though...

The blurb is a trimmed-down version of the one I wrote at Jaime's request early in the project. I wrote it before I even wrote the outline, but it still fits. The main part that's missing is that this isn't just a book about Lucsly and Dulmur, but about the DTI as a whole.

They've just copied my bio from Over a Torrent Sea, it looks like.

 

[captcalhoun]

well, i was already sold on DTI and IFM but these confirm that i want them.

 

[F. King Daniel]

I hate repeating myself from thread to thread, but USS Challenger = Captain Geordi? I can't remember exactly what year STO/Needs of the Many put Geordi's promotion, but it was after Countdown in 2387 - I wonder what timeframe Magic's version will be set?

DTI sounds interesting, but I have reservations about resurrecting and transplanting the TCW into the 24th century (surely the story of the TCW would fit better in one of the timeframes it was fought in during Enterprise?). I loved the DTI chapter in Needs of the Many, but IIRC this version is in no way related. We'll see, I guess.

 

[Christopher]

DTI sounds interesting, but I have reservations about resurrecting and transplanting the TCW into the 24th century (surely the story of the TCW would fit better in one of the timeframes it was fought in during Enterprise?).

By its very nature, the Temporal Cold War spans a vast swath of history and involves many different factions. The glimpses we were shown during ENT were just a few of its battle fronts, and it stands to reason that they represented only a fraction of the full story.

Besides, how do you know that some of the temporal incidents we've seen elsewhere in Trek history weren't part of the TCW anyway...?

 

[JoeP]

I hate repeating myself from thread to thread, but USS Challenger = Captain Geordi? I can't remember exactly what year STO/Needs of the Many put Geordi's promotion, but it was after Countdown in 2387 - I wonder what timeframe Magic's version will be set?

According to Memory Alpha, Geordi was promoted in 2397 during ST:O.

USS Challenger - Memory Alpha

As to the TCW, it sounds almost like DTI is a Q&A-like story where past timeline-disrupting events will all be explained as effects of the TCW. Way too many acronyms in that sentence.

 

[Christopher]

As to the TCW, it sounds almost like DTI is a Q&A-like story where past timeline-disrupting events will all be explained as effects of the TCW. Way too many acronyms in that sentence.

"All?" No. And I'd say that it's closer to Articles of the Federation in approach than Q & A. Like I said, the truncated blurb in the catalog is misleadingly narrow in its focus; the novel examines the full range of the Department's activities as they deal with crises of all sorts.

 

[Paris]

I hate repeating myself from thread to thread, but USS Challenger = Captain Geordi? I can't remember exactly what year STO/Needs of the Many put Geordi's promotion, but it was after Countdown in 2387 - I wonder what timeframe Magic's version will be set?

I'm not sure about Geordi being a Captain in the STO timeline, I'm sure JoeP is right, but Geordi was the Captain of the USS Challenger in the 100th episode of Voyager, Timeless, which took place in 2390

 

[F. King Daniel]

Oh yeah, and I love the Starfleet Academy cover and logo. I just wish it were a grown-up book along the lines of Collision Course.

 

[Lonemagpie]

I hate repeating myself from thread to thread, but USS Challenger = Captain Geordi? I can't remember exactly what year STO/Needs of the Many put Geordi's promotion, but it was after Countdown in 2387 - I wonder what timeframe Magic's version will be set?

I'm not sure about Geordi being a Captain in the STO timeline, I'm sure JoeP is right, but Geordi was the Captain of the USS Challenger in the 100th episode of Voyager, Timeless, which took place in 2390

STO isn't part of the main books timeline, so I wouldn't bother trying to work out the dates on that front.

You're right about Timeless, *but* that of course was also in what has since become a redundant timeline, so anything can happen...

 

[Lonemagpie]

I hate repeating myself from thread to thread, but USS Challenger = Captain Geordi? I can't remember exactly what year STO/Needs of the Many put Geordi's promotion, but it was after Countdown in 2387 - I wonder what timeframe Magic's version will be set?

About three months after the last Typhon Pact book.

 

[JD]

Wow, those both sound awsome, I can't wait. I hope we get to see the cover of IFM soon.

Lonemagpie, would you consider IFM part of the TNG Relaunch?

 

[Lonemagpie]

Wow, those both sound awsome, I can't wait. I hope we get to see the cover of IFM soon.

Lonemagpie, would you consider IFM part of the TNG Relaunch?

Dunno- really it's a standalone, but it's in the main lit timeline and has been given the TNG logo, so...

 

[JD]

Ok, cool.
I know you won't answer this, but the Challenger stuff definitely makes me wonder if we aren't heading twoards Captain Geordi as seen in Timeless. Oh, and... YES TEMPERAL COLD WAR!!! I was really hoping we'd get to see it in the 24th Century and it looks like we finally will.

 

[Xavier_Storma]

IFM sounds very interesting... This could even span a new series, focusing on Geordi and the Challanger.

That's what I love about the latest TREK books from "A Time to..." onwards. Things are different at the end of the book, than they were at the start. People come and go... great dynamics.

If only the movies and shows were more like that!

 

[Tino]

And the latest from Cross Cult too, Demons of Air and Darkness:

Cool. I like what Cross Clult is doing so far when it comes to publishing Star Trek-novels in German - the layout and the covers are great.

What I don't like is the price though - twice as much as five years ago. But well ... it's okay for them to earn a little as they have to pay some percentage to Paramount and the translators.

Let's just hope enough people buy the German books so it's profitable enough for Cross Cult to keep them books comin' :-)

 

[Defcon]

And the latest from Cross Cult too, Demons of Air and Darkness:

Cool. I like what Cross Clult is doing so far when it comes to publishing Star Trek-novels in German - the layout and the covers are great.

What I don't like is the price though - twice as much as five years ago. But well ... it's okay for them to earn a little as they have to pay some percentage to Paramount and the translators.

Let's just hope enough people buy the German books so it's profitable enough for Cross Cult to keep them books comin' :-)

Well, they're adding another tie in-line (Torchwood) to their novel program (Star Trek and Primeval so far), so I guess it's profitable.

 

[F. King Daniel]

I hope Pocket find and hire the Cult Cross cover artists!